Palm oil futures close at 15-year high

Palm oil futures have closed at the highest annual price in 15 years, it has been reported.

Despite the positive end to 2010, there are still concerns surrounding global supplies of palm oil and other cooking oils after rain disrupted harvests in high-yielding countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia, reported Bloomberg.

“The overall trend is still up,” Donny Khor, a senior vice president at OSK Investment Bank Bhd told the news provider.

Recently, the Commodities Ministry in Malaysia said it was planning to develop sustainability in the palm oil sector by producing more clusters of the product in collaboration with the Malaysian Palm Oil Board.

This news came just before analysts announced they expected supply of palm oil to drop in the near future.

In the first 20 days of December, shipments from Malaysia dropped by 26 per cent to 776,910 tonnes, according to surveyor Intertek.