MIRI: Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Peter Chin said Malaysia is optimistic that the price of crude palm oil (CPO) in the world market will be back to normal, the latest by the first quarter of next year.

He said the prediction was made following various strategies and efforts to strengthen Malaysia’s economy and the economy of well-developed countries, particularly the United States of America (USA).

“The increase in capital by America (USA) means a lot of money is being channelled to develop the country’s economy, thus enhancing the world economy and the demand for palm oil from Malaysia.

“The same method applied in Malaysia also boosted Malaysia’s economy. We are optimistic that the price of palm oil will return to normal even though there are some parties who predicted otherwise,” he added.

He was speaking during a dinner he hosted in Kuala Lumpur recently for a group of officers from Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) Miri who were on a visit to the federal capital.

According to Chin, Malaysia and Indonesia – two major palm oil producing countries in the world – on their part are implementing various strategies to reduce the production of palm oil.

“This is done with the hope to stabilise the price of crude palm oil which has dropped to RM1,490 a metric tonne now compared to RM3,500 between last April and June,” he said.

He said the strategies included encouraging oil palm estates to participate in replanting programmes by cutting down trees of over 25 years old and replacing them with new ones.

Participating estates would be given an incentive of RM1,000 by the government for every hectare replanted with oil palm, he added.

“By using this method, we are expecting to cut down 200,000 hectares of oil palm plantation involving 700,000 tonnes of production,” he said, adding that in return it would stabilise the price.

Meanwhile, a survey yesterday by The Borneo Post at Niah and Suai near here which accommodate about 4,000 oil palm smallholders found that fresh oil palm fruits remains at RM210 a tonne compared to RM700 to RM800 a tonne sometime in July, the highest price since 2000.