CPO

CPO: Palm oil prices must rise to RM3,000 (US$955) per ton as bad weather have curtailed prodn growth in Indon & M’sia according to a top oils analyst. Global consumption of vege oils for food & biofuels will likely grow by 6m tons during the yr to Mar 11 while growth in supply will likely be a dismal 2.3m tons due to adverse weather. Consumption in India is projected to rise by 400k tons this year, requiring 9m tons of imports but the world cannot supply the additional tonnage w/o dramatically reducing stocks. Forecast for M’sian CPO output this year will fall 2.3% to 17.2m tons due to tree stress & lowered crop yields. Indon CPO prodn will grow 500k instead of 1m tons this year due to slower expansion of plantation land. Indon produced 20.6m tons of CPO in 2009. Overall for 2010, the forecast is for zero growth in world CPO prodn.