MUMBAI: Palm oil prices are likely to recover in the second half of 2019, helped by a slowdown in production growth and rising demand from the biodiesel industry, leading industry analyst Thomas Mielke said on Tuesday.

“The combination of accelerating consumption for biofuels and food, and a slowdown in growth in palm oil production will keep palm oil prices higher for the rest of this year and in 2020,” said Mielke, editor of Hamburg, Germany-based newsletter Oil World.

Benchmark palm oil prices have shed almost 3 per cent so far this year to a near four-year low at 1,916 ringgit earlier this month. Prices have since risen and closed on Monday at 2,061 ringgit.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2019