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With no room left for land expansion, productivity in Malaysia's palm oil industry must now come from technology, automation and artificial intelligence (AI), Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) said.

Malaysian palm oil futures opened lower on Monday, snapping a four-session rally, as weaker rival Dalian oils weighed on the market, while stronger crude oil prices and positive export data capped the decline.

Palm oil waste, which has long been overlooked, has now proven its potential as a strategic material for national defense

Smallholders produce significant quantities of Vietnam’s coffee, Indonesia’s palm oil, and Thailand’s rubber exported into the EU. Yet under the bloc’s upcoming deforestation-free regulation (EUDR), industry experts say small-scale producers across Southeast Asia need more support to help prepare them to comply with the new rules.

Southeast Asia’s agriculture sector stands at a crossroads. Just this month, record-breaking rains and flooding from back-to-back tropical storms have claimed hundreds of lives, with homes, farms and infrastructure swept away.

The strong performance of palm oil continues to be the main driver of growth in the country’s agricultural sector, which expanded 3.1% in 2024 compared with 0.2% in the previous year, according to the Selected Agricultural Indicators 2025 report released Friday by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).

Malaysian palm oil futures rose on Friday and were poised for their first weekly gain in three, buoyed by stronger rival Dalian oils, although a firmer ringgit capped the gains.

President Prabowo Subianto and US President Donald Trump are expected to sign a landmark reciprocal trade agreement within the next month, a deal welcomed by Indonesian businesses but seen as falling short of broader tariff relief.

SD Guthrie Bhd’s (KL:SDG) foray into industrial parks and renewable energy is well liked by analysts. The potential earnings boost from the new ventures has acted as a rerating catalyst for the counter, drawing more investors to the bullish side.

Indonesia has identified potential fines amounting to $8.5 billion that the government could collect in 2026 from palm oil companies and miners operating illegally in forest areas, the country's attorney general said on Wednesday

Indonesia has seized more than four million hectares of land it says was used illegally for mining, palm oil, and forestry activities, meeting a target issued earlier this month as the government cracks down on illegal resource extraction

Offer prices for Russian sunflower oil (delivered in January) increased by $40-50/t to $1,240-1,250/t FOB, although demand prices for sunflower oil delivered to India remained unchanged during the week at $1,320-1,325/t CIF Mumbai.