Malaysia's FGV returns to profit in Q1 on better palm oil prices

KUALA LUMPUR, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's Felda Global Ventures (FGV), the world's largest crude palm oil producer, announced Wednesday it had returned to profit by posting a net earnings of 2.47 million ringgit (577,350 U.S. dollar) in the first quarter of this year.

The improvement was a result of higher average crude palm oil (CPO) and related products prices, according to the company.

The plantation giant's revenue also increased 15 percent to 4.32 billion ringgit (1 billion dollars) in the first quarter. The jump was due to higher income from its plantation, logistics and others as well as sugar sectors.

Going forward, FGV's president and chief executive officer Zakaria Arshad expects average CPO price to slightly decline with the increase in fresh fruit bunches output from both Malaysia and Indonesia in the coming months.

Malaysia's overall production this year is estimated to be lower than 2015, in view of acute labor shortages that could moderate the bearish CPO price outlook, he added.

He expects the average CPO price to be around 2,550 ringgit to 2,750 ringgit per ton for the second half 2017.

On the downstream business, he said the group will continue to develop key destination markets such as India, China and the Middle East and North Africa.

"We will always be receptive to any strategic partnership proposal that is commercially synergistic and value accretive to our shareholders," he added.