Archived News

22/11/2008 (The Star Online), Petaling Jaya - Malaysian crude palm oil (CPO) exporters are in a quandary as the global financial crisis and the plunge in CPO prices have made it difficult for foreign importers to obtain letters of credit (LCs).

22/11/2008 (Business Times, Malaysia), Singapore - The International Finance Corp (IFC), the World Bank’s investment arm, said it will help lenders in Indonesia to finance small-scale oil palm growers to encourage so-called sustainable practices and forestall climate change.

21/11/2008 (The Star Online) - OIL is the lifeblood of the transport sector the world over. Malaysia’s transport sector too is heavily dependent on oil as 95% of the fuel used is petrol and diesel.

21/11/2008 (The Star Online) - The current large discount in the crude palm oil (CPO) price of US$300 to US$330 per tonne against soybean oil will further boost local palm oil exports in the next six months, but CPO price will remain depressed due to high stockpiles, analysts said.

20/11/2008 (Business Standard) - The edible oil industry has seen a growing number of import defaulters, but domestic refiners are not worried. Processing margins have in fact doubled to 4 per cent in the past one year with most fly-by-night operators exiting the industry.

20/11/2008 (The Malaysian Insider), Jakarta - The Indonesian government has defended the country's drive to expand oil palm cultivation, resisting demands by environmentalists who say it is destroying the country's natural forests and peatlands.

20/11/2008 (The Star Online), Kuala Lumpur - Plantation heavyweight Sime Darby Bhd is making its first foray into the downstream palm oil business in China via the setting up of a joint venture (JV) company with Dongguan Sinograin Oils & Grains Company Ltd.

20/11/2008 (The Jakarta Post) - Publicly listed plantation company PT Sampoerna Agro expects its palm oil fresh fruit bunches (FFB) production to decline by 23 percent this year, compared to last year, but is optimistic production will grow again next year, an executive says.

20/11/2008 (The Financial Express) - India's palm oil imports, which already constitute more than 80% of the total edible oil imports, could rise further after the Central government imposed a customs duty of 20% on crude soybean oil thereby making the already costly soy oil more dearer, traders and industry representatives said.

19/11/2008 (Reuters), Mumbai - Indian edible oil makers, reeling from a supply glut and low prices due to a surge in imports, are hoping to beat a likely imposition of import duty by the federal government and cash in on a possible price hike.

18/11/2008 (Business Times, Malaysia), Hamburg - Malaysia’s 2009 palm oil output will rise only marginally following years of rapid growth, Hamburg-based oilseeds analysts Oil World said yesterday.

18/11/2008 (Brunei Online), Kota Kinabalu - Help is on the way for thousands of oil palm smallholders in the state who are facing financial dire straits because they have difficulty selling their produce amidst plunging crude palm oil prices, The Star reported.