24/01/2011 (The Malaysian Insider), Carey Island - Sime Darby , the world’s largest listed planter in terms of landbank, expects the price of crude palm oil to average RM3,000 this year as demand chases tight vegetable oil supplies, a key official said today.

The estimate by Sime’s Executive Vice President of Plantations, Franki Anthony, represents roughly a 10 per cent rise from last year's average.

“We are happy if prices remain around RM3,000 to RM3,700. Palm oil is still feeling the residual impact of El Nino and the current La Nina weather,” Anthony said during a visit to the firm’s estates on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur.

Production in top suppliers, Indonesia and Malaysia, have lagged and lifted prices for two years, starting with El Nino’s drier weather stalling the development of palm fruits from mid-2009.

La Nina emerged a year later, bringing heavier rains that limited harvesting rounds and curbed yields.

La Nina is expected to last till the end of the first half of 2011, meteorologists say.

The weather anomaly has induced a dry spell in Argentina that could curb competing soyoil production and tighten global vegetable oil supplies, Anthony said.

But palm oil production will start to recover in the second half of this year when erratic weather eases, he said. — Reuters