09/03/2011 (The Star Online) - The 22nd Palm and Lauric Oils Conference & Exhibition (POC 2011) has lived up to expectations and managed to attract over 2,000 participants from the world over compared with 1,500 last year.

Touted as the world's largest annual palm oil event, the POC has consistently been attracting huge turnouts from the world oil palm fratenity.

It had become the focal point for discussions and charting of the future growth of the world's most tradeable vegetable oil commodity, said Bursa Malaysia Bhd chairman Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah.

Industry participants said the theme for POC 2011, entitled Weathering Challenges; Maximising Opportunities, was most apt in the light of the many challenges that had been grappling the oil palm industry.

Dzaiddin pointed out that climate change and extreme weather conditions were expected to have an impact on crude palm oil (CPO) prices as well as the supply and demand.

“Even the recent developments in the Middle East and North Africa have caused huge concerns in the market,” he said, adding that it was timely to encourage discussions on how to overcome the obstacles and create new opportunities for those in the industry.

Yesterday's sessions mostly covered topics on biodiesel, lauric oils as well as the technical and financial aspects of the industry, such as the pricing of edible oil oils from financial users' perspective.

Today - the final day of POC 2011 - will see favourite topics up for discussions.

They will include the price outlook for corn, wheat and oilseeds and the prospects for the edible oils market in China.

Saving the best for last, LMC International Ltd chairman Dr James Fry will present a paper on “What Can Economics Teach Us About Commodity” and also, ISTA Mielke GmbH (OilWorld) executive director Thomas Mielke will speak on “The Price Outlook of Palm & Lauric Oils and Impacts from the Global Vegetables Oil Markets - A Fundamental Approach.