25/07/2012 (Bernama) - Palm oil prices are to remain bullish in the next five months due to the crop-damaging weather in the United States, India's doubling of taxes on refined products and the approaching El Nino phenomenon.

In promising a bright outlook for the commodity, Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said: "I don't see anything disastrous coming our way."

"Prices are higher now and if the US' drought continues as expected, then there will be more demand for palm oil and prices will go up," he told reporters after a visit to the Trushidup Palm Oil Mill here Tuesday.

Soybeans and corn prices hit new record high Friday, given the unrelenting drought in the US that lowered soybean oil supply, which is expected to push up edible oil prices and crude palm oil (CPO) will benefit from the rise.

Last week, India, the world's biggest edible oil importer that mainly buys palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia, lifted a six-year freeze on the base import price of refined palmolein.