Palm oil prices seen higher in short term amid policy uncertainties in Indonesia

Palm oil prices are expected to increase in the coming months on uncertainties stemming from land seizure policies and a biodiesel plan by top producer Indonesia, leading industry analysts said on Friday. Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto has launched a crackdown on the palm oil industry and has brought around five million hectares (12.3 million acres) of plantation under scrutiny, around 3.7 million hectares of which have been seized by authorities. The seizures are expected to disrupt productivity, though analysts differ on how severe the impact will be on output. The Malaysian palm oil benchmark contract may reach RM5,000 (US$1,183.71) per metric tonne over the course of the next six months, Thomas Mielke, executive director of Hamburg-based forecaster Oil World, told an industry conference in Indonesia’s Bali. Dorab Mistry, a director of Indian consumer goods firm Godrej International, told the same conference that Malaysian futures could reach RM5,500 a tonne in January ...