Palm oil players report solid H1 earnings, but CPO prices waning

SINGAPORE-LISTED palm oil stocks have performed strongly this year, fuelled by higher crude palm oil (CPO) prices. But they could lose momentum in the months ahead.

CPO futures contracts on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives market are up about 4 per cent from the beginning of the year. But since late April, the commodity has fallen about 35 per cent due to a number of factors, including higher production and Indonesia’s policy shift to encourage exports by reducing levies.

The absence of quarterly reporting across much of the sector makes this trend difficult to discern, though. In fact, the Singapore-listed palm oil plays reported generally positive results for H1 2022.