KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysian palm oil planter FGV Holdings said on Friday it expected higher profit margins in 2025, boosted by improved productivity from its estates and elevated palm prices in the first half of the year.
Palm prices are expected to average between 4,300 ringgit and 4,600 ringgit a metric ton in the first half of 2025 but are expected to fall in the second half, the group’s chief financial officer, Mohd Hairul Abdul Hamid, told a results briefing.
Production of fresh fruit bunches from the company’s own palm oil crop is expected to grow between 5% and 8% in 2025, added Chief Executive Fakrunniam Othman.
Palm oil has traded at a premium over other rival oils in recent months, thanks to supply disruptions caused by floods in top producers Indonesia and Malaysia, while Jakarta has also worked to boost use of the tropical oil in biodiesel production.
In an exchange filing on Friday, FGV, one of the world’s biggest palm oil producers, said 2024 revenues rose to 22.2 billion ringgit from 19.4 billion in 2023, with a final dividend payment of 5 cents a share.
FGV’s shares traded at 1.14 ringgit on Bursa Malaysia on Friday afternoon. Their price fell 21.05% in 2024.
Regarding the company’s progress to resolve the ban by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Fakrunniam said it had resubmitted its petition to CBP in February tackling issues related to compliance with Malaysian law.
In 2020, the U.S. customs banned FGV over accusations of forced labour on its plantations.
In July last year, FGV petitioned the agency to modify an order detaining its palm oil and palm oil products as imports suspected of having being made with forced labour.
The company has also employed an audit firm to review the labour conditions of its workforce, comprised mostly of migrant workers, and has sought to compensate those who paid recruitment fees to secure jobs, it said.
(Reporting by Ashley Tang; Editing by Martin Petty and Clarence Fernandez)
