Archived News

17/3/07 (The Jakarta Post) - The giddy-eyed proponents of alternative energy bio fuels derived from agricultural commodities received a bit of a wake up call recently when prices of almost all major raw materials such as corn, oil palm, sugarcane, wheat, soya, peanuts and even cassava shot up sharply causing widespread jitters.

10/3/07 (The Jakarta Post,) - Indonesia and Malaysia are considering teaming up to market their main export commodities, crude palm oil (CPO) and rubber, through the establishment of a joint commodities bourse.

6/3/07 ( The Jakarta Post) - While the developed countries tend to throw money at problems, Indonesians like to throw vast tracts of land at a problem, even when easier solutions exist. About a decade ago, the then rulers committed a million hectares of land to overcome the shortage of rice; which still continues to be imported.

9/3/07 (The Jakarta Post) - The Finance Ministry is preparing a package of incentives to support the government's ambitious program to produce 200,000 barrels of biofuel a day by 2010, a senior official says.

Mar 23, 2007(Dow Jones) - SAO PAULO and BUENOS AIRES - Brazil's major soyoil producers are preparing for a fight against Argentina over the biodiesel market, hoping Brasilia can convince Buenos Aires that Argentine tax policies are bad for Brazil's biodiesel program.

23/3/07 (soyatech.com) Orlando -Scientists and researchers are grappling for more breakthroughs before ethanol, biodiesel and other fuels of the future are produced in large enough quantities at prices low enough to revolutionize the country's energy independence, specialists in the field said Thursday in Orlando.

21/3/07 (Bloomberg) -- Palm oil futures were little changed after rising in the previous two sessions on concern higher demand for vegetable oils for fuel use is cutting into supplies.

21/3/07 LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Pure Biofuels (OTCBB:PBOF - News) today announced its plans to lease 60,000 hectares near the city of Pucallpa in central Peru for the cultivation of Palm Oil to provide feedstock for its Callao Port biodiesel production facility on the coast near Lima.

23/3/07 (Insider Asia) - Palm oil statistics released over the past week show continued weakness in export demand, as high prices deter buyers. With crude oil prices back below US$60 (RM208.16) per barrel and the ringgit surging to a new 9.5-year high of RM3.464 per USD, we expect palm oil prices to come under pressure with its competitiveness being eroded further.

22/3/07 KOTA KINABALU (Bernama) -- A Netherlands team is here to help develop Lahad Datu into "the Rotterdam of the East," becoming the gateway for the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA).

22/3/07 ( Junalo, Germany) - A joint venture using nuts as a greener alternative to palm oil as a transport fuel is setting up two plants in Singapore, participants said in published report Thursday.Van Der Horst Bio-Diesel (VDH) and the Institute of Environmental Science and Engineering are focusing on the Jatropha curcas nut.

23/3/07 (Business Times) - OILS and fats producers need to work collectively to overcome potential shortages and create synergy that can have a favourable impact on their production costs, said Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) chief executive officer Tan Sri Yusof Basiron.