Mistry predicts a jump in palm oil price in Malaysia on Indonesian biofuel mandate

(Dec 17): Indonesia’s mandate to use more palm oil for producing biofuels and lower reserves in Malaysia will continue to support the tropical oil in the coming months, according to veteran trader Dorab Mistry. The most-consumed cooking oil may trade between RM3,500 and RM5,000 a ton between now and the end of May, unless the war in Ukraine ends, said Mistry, who has been trading palm for about four decades. “The war has cast a huge unexpected shadow on the world economy,” he said in slides prepared for an industry conference in Goa. The latest prediction by Mistry, who’s a director at Godrej International Ltd, compared with his November forecast of prices reaching as high as RM4,500 a ton through the end of March 2023. Palm oil futures, which recently hit a two-month low, closed 1% higher at RM3,918 on Friday. The vegetable oil had slumped to RM3,336 in late September, its lowest since early 2021. Mistry said that higher demand from the biofuel industry would continue to ...