Anglo-Eastern Plantations PLC on Tuesday said production of fresh fruit bunches and crude palm oil has fallen as a result of aged trees and its replanting programme.

The producer of palm oil and rubber across Indonesia and Malaysia said fresh fruit bunches produced in the first nine months of the calendar year to September 30 totalled 764,800 metric tonnes. This represented a 9.2% fall from 841,960 metric tonnes the year before, due primarily to lower yield from aged trees in Bengkulu, Indonesia.

The company said 2,264 hectares of old palm oil have been felled in Bengkulu over the last two years, in line with its plans to replant old and Dura palms with Tenera seedlings of a higher quality. Its new planting and re-planting has totalled 1,488 hectares in the nine months to September 30, increasing 2.5% from 1,452 hectares last year. This replanting programme is intended to ensure higher yields of fresh fruit bunches and ‘better’ crude palm oil extraction in the long term.

Total crude palm oil production during the nine-month period was 297,730 metric tonnes, falling 12% from 338,840 metric tonnes last year as a result of the lower fresh fruit bunches supply.

Average crude palm oil price excluding Rotterdam was $1,040 per metric tonne, rising 5.8% from $983 per metric tonne last year. However, the company noted that prices ‘remain volatile’, citing a price of $1,160 per metric tonne at October 14, up 24% from $935 at the beginning of the calendar year.

‘Crude palm oil prices are expected to maintain, but there is pressure in view of an expected higher Indonesian palm oil production for the remaining part of the year’, Anglo-Eastern Plantation said. ‘However, the planned implementation of the Biodiesel B40 mandate in Indonesia is expected to boost domestic consumption, thereby tightening supply and supporting crude palm oil prices.’

Shares in Anglo-Eastern Plantations were down 0.9% at 660.00 pence each in London on Tuesday afternoon.

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