March 5 2004 - MALAYSIA’S crude palm oil (CPO) prices will range betweenRM1,600 and RM2,100 a tonne this year, experts said at aglobally-monitored international conference on the industry in KualaLumpur yesterday.

Eight speakers at the 15th Annual International Palm and Lauric OilsConference and Exhibition forecast the price range given the steady demandfor palm oil and tightness in supply of a rival edible oil.

CPO prices averaged RM1,540 a tonne last year and about RM1,820 a monthfor the first two months of this year.

Malaysian Palm Oil Board director-general Datuk Dr Yusof Basiron said thespeakers also agreed that demand from China will be the main driver thisyear and that soyabean oil supply is expected to drop due to unfavourableweather conditions by September this year. Yusof chaired a paneldiscussion at the conference close.

The eight speakers werecomprised producers, consumers, consultants andmarket observers. They presented working papers on the industry, givingout various estimates on prices, supply and demand.

They were United Plantations Bhd vice-chairman and executive director(corporate affairs) Carl Bek-Nielsen, China’s Pansun Cereals & Oils Onlinedeputy general manager Tian Yu and Pakistan’s Mapak Qasim Bulkers plcchief executive and director Abdul Rasheed Jan Mohammed.

The others were Oil World magazine director Thomas Mielke, PT Smart Tbkvice-president director Tan Siauw Liang, Godrej International Ltd directorDorab E. Mistry, LMC International Ltd managing director Dr James Fry andMalaysian Palm Oil Promotion Council Datuk Haron Siraj.

The forecast is important as it allows us to strategise on the amount ofpalm oil we need to buy this year and the next,” an official of UnileverPlc NV said on the conference sidelines.

Earlier, Mielke said that daily CPO prices on the Malaysia DerivativesExchange Bhd could peak up to RM2,200 in the next two months beforetapering off in the second half of the year.

Dorab said CPO prices could peak to RM2,200 by April this year while Tansaid the prices are range-bound between RM1,968 and RM1,816 a tonne forthe whole year.

Bek-Nielsen said on Wednesday CPO prices could peak between RM2,400 andRM2,500 in the next two to three months and Abdul Rasheed said pricescould be between RM1,600 and RM1,800 a tonne in the near term.

Malaysia is the world’s biggest producer of palm oil and its relatedproducts, accounting for more than 50 per cent of the global output.

The country produced 13.3 million tonnes last year, of which 12.2 milliontonnes worth RM25 billion were exported to about 140 countries.