CPO price expected to increase (ext: CIMB)

Malaysian palm oil stocks stood at about 1.2m tonnes today, and this lower stock level is expected to keep crude palm oil (CPO) futures prices this year steady at between RM2,600 and RM2,800 per tonne. "The CPO futures prices would rise steadily. We would not see any big drop or spectacular rises like last year," Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok added. Dompok said he expected the benchmark CPO price to increase to RM2,700 per tonne in the next three months from a closing price of RM2,680 per tonne yesterday.