Archived News

04/02/2009 (The Nation UAE) - The topic of which fats are healthy and which are not is complex enough to confuse even those with a biochemistry degree, let alone the average shopper. There are monounsaturated fats, cis fats, trans fats, omega-3s, omega-6s and interestified fats, to name but a few. Their effects in the body are as varied as their names.

03/02/2009 (Mongabay) - Responding to allegations by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) that indigenous people have been forced from their lands (a charge it denied), the Sabah Forestry Department said that more than 30 percent of Mt. Pock And Tanjong Nagos Forest Reserves were "plundered" by "people with means to plant illegal oil palm including companies" up until 2001. The statement is noteworthy in that leaders of the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, the marketing and lobbying arm of the Malaysian palm oil industry, have maintained that oil expansion has not taken place at the expense of natural forest in Malaysia.

04/02/2009 (Philippines Star), Bangkok - The Philippines must work double time to be able to catch up with worldwide efforts to develop alternative fuels, a ranking energy executive said.

28/01/2009 (The Hindu), New Delhi - India is estimated to produce 7.04 million tonnes of vegetable oils in 2008-09, sufficient to meet only 46 per cent of the country's demand.

03/02/2009 (The Manila Times), Bangkok - PTT Public Co. Ltd. of Thailand said it plans to become Southeast Asia’s hub for ethanol production as it plans to export its products with the expected higher output this year.

02/02/2009 (ANTARA News), Jakarta - PT Sampoerno Agro booked an income of Rp2.288 trillion from its sales in 2008, most of which consisted of crude palm oil, Sampoerna Agro`s corporate secretary, Budianto Tjuatja, said.

02/02/2009 (The Jakarta Post) - The Forestry Ministry has said it has received a mounting number of requests from local administrations for permits to convert Indonesia’s dwindling forests into plantations, mostly due to uncertainty surrounding the spatial planning law.

02/02/2009 (Solomon Star News) - MDL stands for Marovo Development Limited, a company formed to do or run the Outgrower Palm Oil Scheme of the famous failed Vangunu Oil Palm Project. It is a private entity created purposely to do the Outgrower Scheme under the supervisor of Silvania Plantation Product (SI) Limited (SPPL).

02/02/2009 (Business Times) - ROBUST palm oil exports are expected to help cushion slower economic growth ahead, just like 10 years ago.

01/02/2009 (San Francisco Chronicle) - Unilever, the world's largest buyer of palm oil, would publicly call for a moratorium on deforestation by Indonesian growers of the coveted oil used in food, soaps, detergents, cosmetics and biofuel. The expansion of oil palm plantations is slowly destroying Kalimantan, the Indonesian side of Borneo and the habitat of the endangered Bornean orangutan, environmental activists say.

01/02/2009 (New Energy Focus) - Major fuel suppliers are continuing to fail government targets to supply biofuels that meet environmental standards, according to new figures released by the Renewable Fuels Agency, writes James Cartledge.

31/01/2009 (The African Finance Journal) - One of the world's largest land deals, a scheme to lease African farmland to rich countries to grow their own crops, has collapsed amid accusations of 'neo-colonialism'.