Archived News

3/9/2005 - PARSIPPANY, N.J. -- Results from the recently completed Women'sHealth Study (WHS), funded both by the National Heart, Lung and BloodInstitute and the National Cancer Institute, indicate that vitamin Esupplementation provided neither benefit nor harm in relation to firstcardiovascular events including heart attack, stroke and death fromcardiovascular disease. Though vitamin E was not found to reduce the riskof first-time cardiovascular events, it was found unequivocally to be safefor consumption at the level of 600 IU every other day. Additionalanalyses are being done to determine whether any secondary benefits wereseen from the supplementation.

KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 (Bernama) -- Mara and Malaysian Agriculture ResearchInstitute (Mardi), Tuesday inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) aimedat boosting quality of food and agriculture products of Mara-trainedentrepreneurs.

3/9/2005 Bangladesh - Major palm oil refiners of the country haveinvested huge amount of money to upgrade their plants to ensure superquality transparent palm oil aiming at grabbing a share from dominatingsoybean market, industry sources said."Over the years more than Tk 1.0 billion have been invested oninstallation of super palm refining equipment in some refineries," saidFakhrul Alam, country representative of the Malaysian Palm Oil PromotionCouncil (MPOPC) in Bangladesh.He said that the improvement has helped super palm oil refining of morethan 1000 tonnes a day and the capacity will rise to 3000 tonnes in thecurrent year.Among major edible oil refiners of the country City Group, Meghna Groupand TK Group have developed significant capacity for super palm refining,Alam said.A Rouf Chowdhury, chairman of the Bangladesh edible oil refinersassociation, said the edible oil refineries were investing huge money aspart of their survival strategy taken to meet market demand.Chowdhury said nearly half of the country's roughly 60 edible oilrefineries have been forced to suspend their operation due to high priceof crude soybean in the international market.Market sources said retailers across the country are selling super palmoil to consumers in the name of soybean oil. The fine and transparent oilgives a look of soybean and is sold at prices lower by Tk 7-8 perkilogram.The wholesale price of super palm is Tk 34.58 per kilogram while soybeanoil is being sold at Tk 42.63, but retailers sell super palm oil at Tk51-52."During summer, nearly 90 per cent of the edible oil sold at Moulvibazaris super palm oil," said Mohammed Ali, a trader of the country's largestcommodity wholesale market.Palm oil that gets thicker in winter brings down its demand, but the superpalm oil remains normal at a temperature of up to 10 degrees."Refiners are telling us that they would supply super palm refined withsuperior technology that will not get condensed in winter," Ali said.atistics showed that in 2004 the country imported 690,000 tonnes of crudepalm oil, an increase by more than 30 per cent over the previous year. Thesoybean oil import in the year stood at 320,000 tonnes, a fall by about 25per cent. Import of the mustard and rape seeds reached 167,000 tonnes in2004.Edible oil consumption in the country is estimated at 1.2 million tonnes.Local annual production of mustard oil is only 100,000 tonnes.

JAKARTA, March 8 Asia Pulse - The Association of Palm Oil Companies(Gapki) predicted a surge in the price of crude palm oil (CPO) later thisyear with falling harvests of soybean in Brazil and the United States andgroundnut in India.

KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 (Bernama) -- Guess what will the first Malaysianastronaut eat and wear in space when joining the Russian space missionscheduled in October 2007.

Chennai , March 8 - THE Union Government is considering a review of itsdecision to cut the tariff value of imported crude soyabean oil to $485 atonne from $565. It is likely to hike the value in tune with theprevailing global prices, according to sources.

KUALA LUMPUR, 8 Mac (Bernama) -- Pengerusi Persatuan Minyak Sawit Malaysia(MPOA) Datuk Sabri Ahmad berkata industri sawit akan terjejas teruksekiranya pemprosesan tenaga kerja dari Indonesia terus tertangguh.

07/03/05 - Thai President Foods Plc, the maker of Mama instant noodles,has expressed concern that an extended drought could affect supplies ofpalm oil and increase production costs, as well as dampen the purchasingpower of consumers.

JAKARTA, March 7 Asia Pulse - Indonesia will formally protest againstIndia's decision to raise import duties on palm oil, a policy described byJakarta as discriminative.

KUALA LUMPUR (Dow Jones)--The El Nino weather phenomenon is likely to hitMalaysia in 2005, potentially sapping palm oil output in the world'sbiggest producer, a top industry official has said.

06/03/05 KUALA LUMPUR (Dow Jones)--Palm oil prices will continue to tradeat a hefty discount to rival soyoil because of unfavorable import dutiesimposed by India, one of the world's largest edible oil buyers, said a topofficial at Malaysia's palm oil promotion and marketing body.

07/03/05 - TH Group Bhd said its Multimedia Super Corridor statussubsidiary iTech Worldwide Sdn Bhd has received a letter of award fromMinamas Plantation to supply and implement its eFLEX Plantware andMillware solutions in the latter's plantations and palm oil mills inIndonesia.