Palm oil price surging as virus retreats
The prices of oil-palm fruit and palm oil are rising as the Covid-19 outbreak eases, the Office of Agricultural Economics (OAE) said on Tuesday.
The ex-factory price of oil-palm fruit in key production provinces such as Surat Thani, Krabi and Chumpon rose to Bt6-Bt7.90 per kilo as of Tuesday (November 10), from Bt4.10-Bt5 as of October 1.
The price of crude palm oil rose to Bt39.7 per kilo as of Tuesday from Bt25-Bt25.25 per kilo as of October 1.
The government has introduced measures to boost the use of palm oil for generating electricity and making biodiesel, and also pushed exports to reduce local oversupply, said OAE deputy secretary-general Unchana Tracho.
Low production levels mean Thailand is currently storing between 30,000 and 80,000 tonnes of crude palm oil per month. This is expected to rise to normal levels of 280,000-320,000 tonnes per month at the end of this year.
The prices are expected to continue to rise through the first quarter of next year.
