Archived News

02/12/2007 (Daily Times), Kuala Lumpur - Shares of plantation-to-energy group Sime Darby surged nearly 25 percent on Friday after relisting in Malaysia, making it the world’s largest listed palm-oil firm as investors ride a sustained commodities boom.

03/12/2007 (Forbes), Banglore - Moody's Investors Service said it has maintained a stable rating outlook for the Asian palm oil industry as it sees favourable prospects for the sector over the coming year from positive pricing and demand trends.

02/12/2007 (The China Post) - Indonesia -- PT Astra Agro Lestari, Indonesia's biggest agricultural company by market value, raised its palm oil production forecast for this year by 6 percent to more than 900,000 metric tons as rains benefited crops.

04/12/2007 (Bangkok Post) - Jatropha farmers want the Energy Ministry to guarantee the buying price of pure jatropha oil at a minimum of 35 baht per litre, to promote the production of biodiesel from non-food crops. The price guarantee would help attract farmers to expand plantations for jatropha, a cactus-like plant, to one million rai in three years from 100,000 rai, making more supply available to biodiesel makers, said Phichai Tinsuntisook, chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries' renewable energy industry club.

03/12/2007 (Reuters), Mumbai - India left tariff values unchanged for six palm group oils and crude soybean oil, a Central Board of Excise and Customs notification said late on Monday.

02/12/2007 (Sydney Morning Herald) - A Finnish firm plans to build the world's largest bio-diesel plant in Singapore to convert palm oil into fuel for cars, trucks and other vehicles.

01/12/2007 (Xinhua), HELSINKI - The Finnish company Neste Oil planned to build the world's largest bio-diesel plant in Singapore, Finnish media reported Saturday

30/11/2007 (Reuters), Kuala Lumpur - Shares of plantation-to-energy group Sime Darby surged nearly 25 percent on Friday after relisting in Malaysia, making it the world's largest listed palm-oil firm as investors ride a sustained commodities boom.

03/12/2007 (Telegraph.co.uk) - The destruction of peat bogs in Indonesia is releasing more carbon dioxide every year than all of India or Russia, and three times as much as Germany.

02/12/2007 (New Straits Times) - A SURGE in palm oil prices has induced local plantation companies to scramble to buy up agriculture land, fearing that it might cost them too much in the future.

28/11/2007 (The Economic News), Singapore - Palm oil in Malaysia, the global benchmark, fell for a third day on concern crude oil producers will increase supply, leading prices lower and reducing demand for alternative fuels.

28/11/2007 (Asia Times Online), Bangkok - European Union (EU) demand for Asian-produced biofuels, particularly palm oil, is coming at a high social and environmental cost, a report released on Tuesday by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) warns.