Archived News

2/8/2004 (Renewable Fuel News) New Delhi-- Indian Railways (IR), one ofthe world's largest rail networks, is planning to use biodiesel to powerlocomotives across the country by 2006.

2/8/2004 (Business Latin America) - A record 2004-05 harvest is forecast.The season's yield of corn, soybeans, sunflowers and wheat should total75.5m tonnes, a 15% increase over the previous season, according to theInter-American Institute of Agricultural Co-operation (IICA). Thegovernment's decision to allow the planting of genetically modified cornseed (see next item) will help the country regain its place as the world'ssecond leading corn exporter after the US. Agricultural goods accountedfor 57% of Argentina's exports in the January-May period, says the IICA.

BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--Argentina, Brazil and the U.S. will send aletter to Chinese officials next week detailing their concerns about hownew food import rules in China might affect trade, Argentine AgricultureSecretary Miguel Campos said Saturday.The two South American nations combine with the U.S. to sell about 92%of the world's soybean exports, according to the U.S. Department ofAgriculture.China is the world's top soybean importer. The Asian giant is expectedto import 24 million metric tons of soybeans in 2004-05, USDA data show.China's demand for soy has rocked commodities markets in recent years,pushing prices up but also causing values to fluctuate dramatically.This has caused headaches for many soybean exporters. Matters weremade worse last month, when China changed its food import rules, causingfurther concern about how the country will deal with soy imports thisyear.To obviate any problems, Campos, U.S. Agriculture Secretary AnnVeneman and Brazilian Agriculture Minister Roberto Rodrigues will jointlywrite a letter to Chinese officials that expresses concern over the newrules.The decision to send the letter was made Friday after Campos met withRodrigues and Jim Butler, the U.S. Deputy Under Secretary for Farm andForeign Agricultural Services."We made the decision to express our concerns in a letter to AQSIS(China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection andQuarantine) and to the Ministry of Health," Campos said. "We are going toask for a technical meeting to inquire about the possibility of modifyingthese new rules."The letter will be delivered to Chinese authorities next week byambassadors from the three signatories, an Agriculture Secretariatofficial said Saturday.

KUALA LUMPUR (Dow Jones)--Asian cash palm oil prices were weakerMonday, including the Malaysian market, though declines were small,despite sharp losses in soyoil futures.Bearish weather conditions dragged down soyoil futures at the ChicagoBoard of Trade Friday, with December soyoil ending 113 points lower.The weaker soyoil and persistent concerns over rising palm oilproduction weighed on prices.However, the market only fell slightly.Traders said recent keen buying interest from major consumers likeIndia and China was helping to support prices."Certainly, production is improving. But demand is also very strong aswell, and that demand is what is keeping the market steady," a tradersaid.Palm oil production is currently in its strongest period of the year.Slow exports in the first half of the year had prompted industryanalysts like private surveyor Palmis Management Bhd to warn that stocksmay swell to a burdensome level of more than 1.5 million metric tons laterthis year.However, recently there have been indications that demand is on therise again.Cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services estimated Saturday a 14% risein July Malaysian palm oil exports to 1.1 million tons.Another surveyor, SGS (Malaysia) Bhd, released its figures Monday andalso estimated July exports around 1.1 million tons.Disappointing oilseeds-growing weather conditions in India hadprompted a wave of buying interest last month.The Indian buying has subsided in tandem with a revival of rains lastweek. But palm oil prices have held firm, as there has been fresh buyingfrom China, another major palm oil consumer, in recent days.A rise in domestic selling prices and declining stock levels spurredthe buying interest from China.Traders said demand from China also typically strengthens at this timeof the year, ahead of important festivals and holidays in September andOctober.However, it is uncertain whether the interest from China is merelyseasonal or could be sustained for the longer term.In the cash market, CPO for August shipment was offered at 1,460ringgit ($1=MYR3.8) a ton, down MYR5 from Friday, delivered basis in SouthMalaysia.RBD palm olein for August shipment was offered at $417.50/ton, down $5from Friday.RBD palm oil for August shipment was at $407.50/ton, also down $5.In Indonesia, RBD palm olein in Jakarta was offered at 4,275 rupiah($1=IDR9,160) a kilogram, down IDR25 from Friday.There were no offers for CPO in Medan so far as participants wait forthe next auction, traders said.The government is due to hold its semiweekly auction of palm oilTuesday.

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SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Chinese importers are rushing to sign newcontracts to book soyoil cargoes from South America before the Chinesegovernment enforces a more stringent rule in October that analysts said isaimed at curbing soyoil imports.This latest regulation on edible oil quality, released last week,stipulates that only crude soyoil that is of an equivalent standard torefined soyoil will be allowed into the country after Oct. 1. This willeffectively end China's imports of crude soyoil, most of which comes fromSouth America and is processed into more profitable refined oil for salein domestic markets.Soyoil imports in the first six months of this year soared 170% fromthe same period last year, according to Chinese customs data last month.The total volume of these soyoil imports wasn't available, nor was abreakdown on the amount of refined versus crude soyoil.The new regulation calling for higher standards of edible oil willeffectively stop importers from buying crude soyoil from South Americaafter Oct. 1, analysts said.Domestic soy crushers, plagued by weak demand for feed and competingwith a flood of foreign soyoil, have been clamoring for more governmentefforts to curb excessive vegetable oil imports in the hope of raisingdomestic oil prices.China will probably import another 430,000 tons of soyoil in Augustand 340,000 tons in September, bringing total soyoil imports during Juneto September to 1.3 million tons, analysts said.The Hamburg-based German trade publication, Oil World, also said lastweek that soyoil prices were much firmer in the cash markets across SouthAmerica due to strong buying from China.

02/08/04 LONDON (Dow Jones)--Encouraging harvest news for EuropeanUnion 2004-05 rapeseed production with high yields and promising qualityand lack of third country export opportunities has seen rapeseed futuresprices on the French Matif plummet over the past three sessions, whileprice outlook for the 2004- 05 marketing year is gloomy, sources said.The Matif rapeseed Nov contract fell to a low of EUR210 a metric tonMonday morning, down EUR14.25 since July 29.The descent is due to a rebound to average to good output levels forthe E.U. to 13.176 million tons, up 20% on 2003-04, when rapeseed outputtotaled only 10.980 million tons due to drought, according to E.U.agricultural lobby organization Coceral.Now yields in Germany, the E.U.'s largest rapeseed producer, haverecovered to around 40 tons per hectare, with some places reporting evenyields of up to 50 tons/ha. "Germany's harvest looks like it's going to bea record one," a trader said.The German farmers' association Bauernverband was more cautious:"Yields are average to good, but differentiated regionally. You need toremember that we've had not one but two bad years for rapeseed, so to makea more correct assessment one needs to make a omparison with results fromthree years ago," she said.In Germany, growing conditions have been markedly better during thiscampaign, even though persistent rain has caused some pods to pop open,she said.In 2001-02, Germany produced 4.16 million tons of rapeseed, while for2004-05, production is expected to reach 4.349 million tons, Coceralsaid. France, the E.U.'s second largest producer with an estimatedoutput of 3.609 million tons for 2004-05, up from 3.324 million tons lastyear according to Coceral, has seen yields of 34 tons/ha, up from 30.8ton/ha, so that some analysts peg production at more than 3.7 milliontons.Higher production levels are likely to inflate end stocks due to lackof export demand from third countries such as Japan and India, whichunderpinned E.U. rapeseed prices in the past.This is due to the historically strong euro, so that most trades willonly be on an intra-E.U. level, traders said, with added price pressurefrom accession countries such as Poland, where rapeseed output is expectedto increase sharply by between 45% and 63% to around 1.25 million tons,according to recent Polish government data."Expect a total price plunge for 2004-05, while we're totallydependent on the rise and fall of soy prices on the U.S. market. The onlyimprovement I can see is through a rise in prices on there," a tradersaid.A rise in rapeseed use for production of biodiesel may offer somesupport but farmers are allowed to plant rapeseed on set-aside areas fornon-human consumption, curbing inroads for surplus rapeseed production.Further, oil crushers are seen covered for the next three to fourmonths, and are likely to keep fresh buying to a minimum in theexpectation of falling prices.Farmers on the other hand are usually keen to sell rapeseed soon afterthe harvest, as it is harder to store than a drier crop such as wheat,sources said.

JAKARTA, Aug 2 Asia Pulse - The export of Indonesia's crude palm oil (CPO)to India, one of the largest importers for the commodity, has decreaseddue to its lower betacarotene content, a businessman said.

KUALA LUMPUR, July 31 (Reuters) - Malaysian oil palm product exportsfor July stood at 1,098,057 tonnes, up 14.2 percent from the 961,936tonnes shipped in June, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said in ashipment estimate released on Saturday.Another cargo surveyor, Societe Generale Surveillance Malaysia Sdn Bhd(SGS), whose figures are more closely watched by the market, is due torelease its export estimates for July on Monday.

NEW DELHI (Dow Jones)--Despite concerns about a possible drought thisyear, damage to India's oilseed crop may be limited as monsoon rains haverevived in oilseed growing regions, a senior industry official told DowJones Newswires."The last few days have put the smile back on the faces of oilseedfarmers, as rains in Maharashtra and Gujarat may prevent a furtherreduction in crop size," said B.V. Mehta, executive director of SolventExtractors' Association of India, a lobby group of oil mills.India's summer sown oilseed crop, sown in June and July and harvestedin September, depends entirely on the June-September monsoon rains forsustenance. Groundnut and soybean are the two main oilseeds sown insummer.Monsoon rains started in the last week of May this year, ahead of theusual June 1 start date for India, but the rains tapered off in earlyJuly, leading to concerns of a drought in many parts of the country andlower farm output. Both the groundnut and soybean crops were affected byscanty rains in the first 20 days of July.Farmers who planted oilseed crops in early June watched helplessly astheir crops dried up, while those who were planning to sow later, couldn'tdo so for most of July.Monsoon rains have, however, revived in the oilseeds growing areas ofwestern and central India for the past three to four days and weatherdepartment officials have said the rains will continue for another threeto four days.

1/8/04 (Business Line - India) - MALAYSIAN crude palm oil futures on MDEXclosed lower on Friday due to persistent weakness in CBOT soya oil valuesand absence of any crucial leads, which lead to weekend liquidation ofpositions.

MANILA (Dow Jones)--World coconut oil prices fell sharply this week onimproved copra supply and the bearish influence of the soy and palm oilmarkets.Manila-based traders quoted coconut oil for August/September deliveryat $615-$620 a metric ton, CIF Rotterdam, while September/October deliverywas offered at $605/ton. These prices are lower by $40 to $50/ton fromprices quoted a week ago."Farmers are now coming out with their copra, and reports of copraturnover have caused export prices to fall," one trader said.The peak harvest period for copra starts in the third quarter.Traders said bearish sentiment in the soyoil market, courtesy of agood soybean crop in the U.S. and robust palm oil supply in Malaysia,added to the pressure on coconut oil prices.The downward trend in coconut oil prices may continue next weekalthough the downside will be limited by an overall decline in coprasupply this year, another trader said.Copra production is projected to reach 2.4 million tons this year,down from last year's 2.5 million tons. The projected decline in output isattributed to biological stress of coconut trees following several yearsof bountiful harvests.The country's coconut oil exports in July are expected to reach 62,700metric tons, up 30% from June on an improvement in the supply of copra.The Philippines is the world's biggest exporter of coconut oil,averaging 1 million tons a year.