KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian crude palm oil prices will average 2,260 ringgit a tonne in the first half of 2015, but may drop to more than six-year lows later in the year if demand from the bio-diesel sector does not pick up, leading industry analyst James Fry said.

Benchmark palm prices sank almost 15 percent in 2014, partly dragged by a crude oil rout that made palm an unattractive option for blending into bio-diesel.

Dubbing it a year of two halves for prices, Fry said palm could drop to an average of 1,770 ringgit ($487) per tonne in the second half - which would be the lowest since early 2009.

Weak Southeast Asian crude palm oil output may push Malaysian palm stocks below 1.6 million tonnes in the second quarter, but inventories will climb towards the year end, he told an industry conference in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.

Copyright Reuters, 2015