10/07/2009 (The Star Online) - QL Resources Bhd wants to triple the profit contribution from its palm oil operations by 2015 as it is bullish about the long-term growth outlook for the commodity, a top executive said yesterday.

QL started planting on its 20,000ha of plantation land in Indonesia two years ago and was planning to build a new palm oil mill there in the next six months, managing director Chia Song Kun said in an interview.

Chia said he saw the near-term fair value for crude palm oil (CPO) at around RM2,000 a tonne, saying weak global economic conditions had weighed on consumption.

But CPO prices were unlikely to go below their October low of RM1,300 a tonne, the break-even level for planters, Chia said.

Palm oil would regain its competitiveness to other vegetable oils at that level, he said.

“If palm oil reaches RM1,300, other seed oils which have lower yield than palm oil will be facing losses already,” he said. — Reuters