Crude palm oil (CPO) prices: Indonesia and Malaysia

What a CPO price means

CPO means crude palm oil, the oil after processing. Fresh fruit bunches, or FFB, are the fruit before processing. An FFB price and a CPO price refer to different products. “The difference between FFB and CPO” explains that distinction.

Before using a CPO price, identify the measure, currency, unit, location and applicable date or period. A government reference price and a daily market average answer different questions.

Indonesia’s reference price

Indonesia’s Ministry of Trade sets a government CPO reference price through its decisions. The price uses US dollars per metric ton and applies to a stated period. Narwhal identifies this series as idn-cpo-reference-price.

Each observation has period_start, period_end and a revision number. The effective period includes both its start and end dates. Read those dates alongside the price so that you use the reference for the intended period.

A revision replaces the observation. Treat the revised observation as the replacement for that period, rather than counting it as an additional price observation.

Malaysia’s daily market averages

The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) publishes daily CPO local delivered market averages in Malaysian ringgit per metric ton. The national series in Narwhal is mys-cpo-local-delivered.

Regional series cover central, north, peninsular, Sabah, Sarawak, south and east coast. Regional identifiers follow the same pattern, such as mys-cpo-local-delivered-sabah. The east coast series has history ending in August 2024.

Keep the region attached to the value. A regional average and the national average describe different geographic coverage.

Why the two measures differ

Indonesia’s series gives a government reference effective for a period. Malaysia’s series gives a daily local delivered market average. Do not read the Indonesian reference as a daily market average or treat a Malaysian daily average as a government reference for a period.

The Indonesian series uses USD; the Malaysian series uses MYR. Narwhal does not convert currencies. A direct subtraction would mix currencies and measures. Even a separate currency conversion would not make the two measures equivalent.

Worked example: metric tons to kilograms

One metric ton is 1,000 kilograms. To convert a price in USD per metric ton to USD per kilogram, divide the price by 1,000.

For an illustrative price of USD 1,042.15 per metric ton, the equivalent is USD 1.04215 per kilogram. This changes the price denominator. It does not change the currency, product or effective period.

1 metric ton = 1,000 kg
1,042.15 USD/metric ton ÷ 1,000 = 1.04215 USD/kg

Find a series and request prices

Use https://api.narwhalapi.com as the base URL and send the header Authorization: Bearer $NARWHAL_API_KEY. Discover CPO series first, then use the chosen series_id for the latest price or its history.

• Discover CPO series: GET /v1/commodities/palmoil/physical?product=cpo
• Read the latest price: GET /v1/commodities/palmoil/physical/{series_id}
• Read history: GET /v1/commodities/palmoil/physical/{series_id}/observations

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $NARWHAL_API_KEY" \
  "https://api.narwhalapi.com/v1/commodities/palmoil/physical/idn-cpo-reference-price"

Read an illustrative latest response

This illustrative response shows the Indonesian reference series. The price and dates are examples, not a current price report. The effective period runs from October 1 through October 31, 2026, including both dates.

Keep the series identity, currency, unit, effective period and revision with the value. The price alone does not tell you which measure or period it represents.

{
  "series_id": "idn-cpo-reference-price",
  "price": "1042.15",
  "currency": "USD",
  "unit": "metric_ton",
  "period_start": "2026-10-01",
  "period_end": "2026-10-31",
  "revision": 1
}