KUALA LUMPUR: Sime Darby Bhd expects crude palm oil (CPO) price to trend between RM2,200 and RM2,500 per tonne until June 30 next year as oil palm trees move into a “low crop season”, said its group chief executive, Tan Sri Mohd Bakke Salleh.
 
According to Mohd Bakke, this estimate is based on the strong fundamentals of palm oil as a commodity and Malaysia’s plans to implement the B7 biodiesel mandate.
 
“Palm is still the best form of edible oil in terms of price and land utilisation and other factors,” Mohd Bakke told reporters at the end of Sime Darby’s presentation of its first quarter ended Sep 30, 2015 (1Q15) today.
 
He added that Sime Darby and all industry players hope that the government will extend the exemption of export tax on crude palm oil to beyond the end of the year.
 
CPO price is currently at the lower end of Sime Darby’s projections, standing at RM2,201 per tonne as at yesterday.
 
As for the company’s automobile business, Mohd Bakke said Sime Darby is “going through the motion” of getting the division listed on Bursa Malaysia. Sime Darby has already appointed investment banks and accountants to facilitate the process and fulfil requirements set by regulators.
 
“Our target now in terms of hitting the gong is sometime in July or August 2015. It could be earlier.” he said.
 
“In the event that the market does not look too good or the business landscape takes a turn for the worse, then we may even have to differ it,” he said.

 On the Ebola outbreak, Mohd Bakke said Sime Darby’s plantation in Liberia has seen one fatality from the epidemic in West Africa.
 
“The victim was a female general worker, 24 years old, who contacted the disease from her mother. Her mother also passed away. Unfortunately, the worker was staying with her mother outside our estate. Now, a dozen close relatives and friends have been quarantined,” he explained.