UOBKH believes that CPO prices may soften as palm oil production recovers towards the end-3Q21 and in turn, inventories could start to rebuild. KUALA LUMPUR: The current higher-than-expected increase in the crude palm oil (CPO) price is likely to sustain for at least the second quarter of this year, driven by tight global vegoil supply and recovery demand. As such, UOB Kay Hian (UOBKH) Research has raised its CPO average selling price for 2021 to RM3,000 per tonne from RM2,600 per tonne. It said as of Jan 6, CPO future contract for both Jan and Feb hit RM4,000 per tonne due to stronger soyoil price and concerns of weak CPO production continuing in the first quarter of this year (1Q21).