Improving Agricultural Market Performance:
Developing Agricultural Market Information Systems
57
Figure 20: Crude Palm Oil Futures (FCPO) Prices Reported on Bursa Malaysia
SourcePrices for oil palm products, including fresh fruit bunches, palm oil and palm kernel oil, are
benchmarked against the transparently-discovered prices on the commodity exchange – which
is Bursa Malaysia (Figure 20). However, even though Bursa Malaysia trades futures contracts, it
is not only the price data they publish which informs decisions by market actors. They also
consult industry information provided by the Palm Oil Registration and Licensing Authority
(PORLA), which is a government regulatory agency. In addition to registering and regulating the
activities of market actors PORLA monitors and reports on the market situation, including
disseminating information on production forecasts, stock levels and utilisation of fresh fruit
bunches, palm oil, palm kernel oil, palm kernel cake and oleochemical products. PORLA is able
to carry out this function because it is responsible for registering all palm oil mills, refineries,
oleochemical firms, palmkernel cake processing companies and bulk storage firms running tank
farms for palm oil. Part of its regulatory function is to set and enforce quality standards for palm
oil and other products which are traded on Bursa Malaysia. PORLA also collects and
disseminates data on import and export of palmoil products based on information fromcustoms
declaration forms.