SERDANG: Crude palm oil (CPO) prices are likely be traded at RM2,400 to RM2,500 per tonne towards year-end, depending on the effect of the El Nino on palm oil production. Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) chairman Datuk Sabri Ahmad said if El Nino turned serious, CPO production could be affected from next year. On palm oil stocks for August, he said: “Stocks are likely to stay at 1.3 million tonnes, similar to July stock level. “Exports this month will remain buoyant, given active buying ahead of the festive months in the second half of this year,” Sabri told reporters after the opening of MPOB’s International Palm Oil Conference held in conjunction with MICCOS 2009. Earlier, at the conference, MPOB signed three separate MoUs with Shanghai Jiaotong University and Ronser BioTech Sdn Bhd, Global Green Synergy Sdn Bhd and Berita Harian. The first memorandum with Shanghai Jiaotong University and Ronser BioTech is to develop waste water treatment technologies using palm oil mill effluent zero-discharge treatment system. MPOB’s partnership with Global Green Synergy is to develop a process system and technology for the commercial production of palm-based biomass briquettes while the agreement with Berita Harian is to publish a special monthly issue of Berita Sawit. Source : The Star by Hanim Adnan