KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 23): Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV) expects crude palm oil (CPO) price to decline next year on an anticipated rise in production, and trade between RM2,500 and RM2,700 in the first half of 2018.

"The CPO price will be slightly lower than the current price, around RM2,500 to RM2,700 for the first half of next year…it will be mainly due to recovery in the production of palm oil as well as competition from soybean oil," the group's president and chief executive officer Datuk Zakaria Arshad told reporters today.

He also said FGV's fresh fruit bunches (FFB) production would be higher next year, at 4.85 million metric tonnes. As of the first nine months ended of the group's financial year 2017 (9MFY17), its FFB production rose 3% to 3.07 million metric tonnes.

On concern over the wet La Nina weather's impact, Zakaria said the impact would be minimal and not as severe as the El Nino phenomenon.