United Plantations sees palm oil prices ranging between RM3,850 and RM4,250 in 2024

Sunday 22 Dec 2024

KUALA LUMPUR (March 5): United Plantations Bhd (UP), which recently posted record earnings and dividend for 2023, is expecting crude palm oil (CPO) prices to range between RM3,850 and RM4,250 per tonne this year amid supply constraints.

“I do not think the first three to four months will be very strong,” said UP vice chairman and CEO Datuk Carl Bek-Nielsen, referring to CPO production.

“In fact, production in Malaysia is flat, if not somewhat declining, and that is also linked to what we are seeing in Indonesia, where production is not high,” he told The Edge on the sidelines of the Palm & Lauric Oils Price Outlook Conference & Exhibition on Tuesday.

The benchmark CPO futures for May delivery was trading at RM3,942 per tonne at 5pm on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives.

Bek-Nielsen said that having a good yield and high palm oil production will continue to be UP’s main focus for this year.

“We expect yield and production to grow further,” he said.

The group’s average CPO yield increased to 6.11 tonne per hectare from 5.89 tonne per hectare in the previous year, its latest annual report showed.

Its Malaysian estates reached an average yield of 6.3 tonnes per hectare, up 3.4% from 6.09 million tonnes per hectare in 2022, whereas average yield for the Indonesian estates improved 4.7% to 5.34 tonnes per hectare (from 5.1 tonnes per hectare).

Shares of UP climbed over 35% or RM6.14 since the start of this year, to a fresh high of RM24 on Monday, after reporting record earnings and dividends for FY2023 ended Dec 31. It declared a dividend of RM1.10 per share for the year as annual profit jumped to a new record high of RM711 million.

Edited ByS Kanagaraju

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