Malaysia: Palm oil will rise in price in the second half of the year

Palm oil, found in everything from candy to instant noodles and soap, is likely to get costlier in the second half as a US drought and an intensifying El Niño curb world edible oil supply, a Bloomberg survey showed. Benchmark futures in Malaysia are set to climb as much as 10% from current levels to a high of 4,000 ringgit ($855) a ton, according to the median of 30 estimates from traders, analysts and plantation executives, who were asked for their highs and lows over the next six months and whether they were bullish or bearish. Eighteen were bullish, seven bearish and the rest gave no direction. Increasingly frequent bouts of wild weather, such as drought in the US and parts of Europe, and heat waves in China and India, are roiling global farm production. Yet more disruption is expected later this year with the onset of El Niño, which usually brings dry weather to Asia and rains to South America. Some analysts see bigger price gains on El Niño, even though the hit to yields ...