Archived News

07/08/2008 (The Economic Times), New Delhi - The India-Asean free trade agreement (FTA) — which would result in duty-free trade with Asean countries such as Malaysia and Singapore in most agriculture and industrial products over the next 10 years — is finally ready for take-off. The trade negotiations committee (TNC) comprising top officials from India and the ten-member bloc is meeting, probably for the last time, on Thursday in Brunei to give a final push to the FTA and seal the deal.

05/08/2008 (Reuters, UK), Jakarta - Malaysia and Indonesia will cooperate in a biofuel development program, and may use the same biofuel specifications and amount of blending, Malaysia's commodities minister said on Tuesday.

05/08/2008 (Reuters), Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia plans to use 500,000 tonnes of crude palm oil from its swelling inventories in the next two to three months to produce biodiesel to boost faltering prices of the vegetable oil, Commodities Minister Peter Chin said on Tuesday.

04/08/2008 (Bernama), SUKABUMI (West Java) - Malaysia and Indonesia Monday agreed to use the surplus from their palm oil stockpiles to produce biodiesel as part of the mechanism to boost the palm oil price.

04/08/2008 (Guardian.co.uk) - New Britain Palm Oil is opening a refinery in the UK which it claims will allow shoppers to know exactly where the palm oil in their shopping basket comes from.

04/08/2007 (The Statesman) - The WTO meeting has failed after the USA reportedly got into a deadlock with India and China over import rules for farm products. Nevertheless, there seems to be a consensus among the participants that increased trade can help ensure the world’s food security.

04/08/2008 (Latin Business Chronicle) - The new federally-mandated Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) calls for the United States to raise its annual biofuel production from 6.5 billion gallons per year (bgy) in 2007 to 36 bgy by the year 2022. This is a tremendous undertaking in terms of investment required, construction activity and infrastructure development. Corn ethanol alone will not suffice to reach that goal. In addition to corn ethanol’s environmental and cost shortcomings, (...) it is widely accepted by the corn industry and the federal government that U.S. corn ethanol production will not exceed approximately 15 bgy in 2022.

02/08/2008 (The News - International), Jakarta - Indonesia, the world’s top palm oil producer, will ask Pakistan to lower import tariffs for palm oil products to boost its palm oil exports, a senior government official said on Friday.

02/08/2008 (The Financial Express) - Though its much-publicised cheap edible oil sale has already been launched, the central government has managed to import just around 2,60,000 tonne of edible oils till July, against a total requirement of 10 lakh tonne.

30/07/2008 (AllAfrica.com) - District leaders have rallied support for Government's palm oil tree-growing project. The district chairperson, Dan Kikola, said the palmoil project had contributed to development in the island district.

31/07/2008 (The Star Online), Muar - The drop in palm oil prices for August has prompted several millers here to stop buying oil palm fruits from smallholders for two days.

30/07/2008 (NST Online) - SELANGOR-based Sawit Raya Oil (Sabah) Sdn Bhd will invest RM50 million in the construction of a palm oil refinery in the state-run Palm Oil Industrial Cluster in Lahad Datu.