Archived News

KOTA KINABALU, June 5 (Bernama) -- The Sabah Environmental ProtectionAssociation (Sepa) has called on the palm oil industry in Sabah to adhereto proper maintenance of palm oil effluents to prevent environmentalpollution.

6/7/2004 - Saint Louis, Missouri... The American Soybean Association (ASA)is urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to more rapidlyundertake development of a national strategy for controlling andmitigating the potential for an Asian soybean rust infestation in thecontinental United States. Rust is a devastating disease with thepotential to cause enormous losses in annual U.S. soybean production,resulting in serious consequences for domestic industry, including thelivestock sector.

Brazil, Jun 8, 2004 (Gazeta Mercantil/SABI via COMTEX) --The BrazilianMinister of Agriculture, Roberto Rodrigues, estimates a fall of US$1bil inthe exports income of the soybean complex principally due to the downsizein the international prices of the product and possible renegotiations ofcontracts with China. The exports of soybean and derivatives, originallyestimated at US$10.5bil should be narrowed to US$9.5bil - up the US$8.1bilexported in 2003. Rodrigues also reviewed down the estimates for theagribusiness GDP, from 6% to 3% due to the expected crash in the Braziliangrains crop, from 130mil m tons to 120mil m tons.

Date Posted - INDIA BUSINESS INSIGHT- Oilseeds output in India isestimated to have exceeded 250 lakh tonnes in 2003-2004, due to bountifulrains in the last monsoon season. There has been a bumper soyabean andgroundnut crop, which has prompted the Government of India (GOI) to reviseupwards oilseeds output estimates for 2003-2004 from 249.75 lakh tonnes to250.08 lakh tonnes, which is a 67 percent increase over the 150.58 milliontonnes in 2002-2003. Rabi oilseeds production estimate has increased from82.86 lakh tonnes to 84.29 lakh tonnes.

6/11/2004 FINANCIAL EXPRESS - Refined oil consumer packs have clocked thehighest growth over the past five years according to a retail audit by ACNielsen. The category has posted a compounded annualised growth rate(CAGR) of 27 per cent since March 1999 and a similar growth over one yearperiod. Godrej Industries executive director and president MP Pusalkarsaid, "Growth in sales volumes of soya oil has resulted in this uptrend."

KUALA LUMPUR, June 8 (Bernama) -- Malaysia recorded a trade surplus of RM6billion in April, an increase of 5.1 percent from the previous month.

KOTA KINABALU, June 5 (Bernama) -- The Sabah Environmental ProtectionAssociation (Sepa) has called on the palm oil industry in Sabah to adhereto proper maintenance of palm oil effluents to prevent environmentalpollution.

Kuala Lumpur, May 31 (Dow Jones) - The current rebound in the palm oilmarket isn't surprising, as prices had fallen too much in recent weeks, asenior Indonesian industry official said Monday, adding that crude palmoil prices are expected to recover to at least 1,650 ringgit ($1=MYR3.8) ametric ton.CPO futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives fell as much as 25% inthe past month, with the benchmark August contract hitting a neareight-month low of MYR1,435/ton Friday.The contract has since recouped some of its losses to end atMYR1,610/ton Monday amid active short covering.Derom Bangun, chairman of the Indonesian Palm Oil ProducersAssociation, or GAPKI, said in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires thatlower demand from India this year, concerns about potential contractdefaults or cancellations by China and rising global palm oil productionhave damped sentiment in the palm oil market.However, he said the recent heavy selling pressure appears overdone."Traders may have overreacted, causing prices to come down too muchbecause technically speaking, the market couldn't go down that badly,"Bangun said.Bangun expects palm oil prices to remain volatile for another two tothree weeks before stabilizing.Although buying interest has been slow in recent weeks, it was only amatter of time before buyers returned to the market, he said, adding thatrefiners and consumers would need to replenish supplies soon."In Indonesia, there are some (producers) who have the ability toabsorb this condition (of lower prices) because they have good cash flow.They may be reluctant to sell at these low levels," he said.Bangun said he expects CPO prices to rise back to levels of "not lessthan MYR1,650".Indonesian palm oil prices typically track the movement of theMalaysian market.Crude palm oil production in Indonesia, the world's second largestproducer, is expected to rise to 10.4 million tons in 2004 because ofimproved yields, Bangun said.In 2003, production was estimated at 9.9 million tons.Exports are expected to rise in tandem to 7 million tons this year,from 6.5 million tons in 2003, he said.Meanwhile, Bangun said there was also talk in Indonesia of potentialcontract defaults by Chinese importers."But I don't know exactly who is suffering from it or what exactly isthe quantity involved," he said.Rumors surfaced last week that palm oil importers in China, theworld's largest palm oil consumer, may default on earlier contracts to buypalm oil products at high prices.The steep drop in edible oil prices coupled with the Chinesegovernment's credit-tightening program have triggered fears that Chineseimporters may reject delivery of some hundreds of thousands of tons ofpalm oil.Traders said, however, Chinese importers have sought to re-negotiateprices for the purchases, raising hopes that defaults could yet beavoided.

Manila, May 28 (Dow Jones) - World coconut oil prices continued to fallthis week, in line with bearish sentiment in vegetable oil markets.Traders said the market was generally quiet this week as most buyersremained on the sidelines, anticipating lower prices.Manila-based traders quoted coconut oil for July delivery at $640 ametric ton, FOB, down $10-$15/ton from prices quoted a week ago.Despite limited supply of copra, the dried coconut meat from which theoil is extracted, coconut oil prices continue to slide on the bearishinfluence of the soy and palm oil markets, traders said.Prospects of lower soyoil imports by China and increasing palm oilstocks in Malaysia are major bearish factors in the vegetable oil market,traders said."The sentiment (among buyers) is to stay out of the market," oneexporter said.However, the coconut oil market could see a technical correct highernext week as export prices have already fallen substantially, by around$100/ton in the last two weeks, he said.He added a possible increase in demand for palm oil could help easepressure on coconut oil prices.The Philippines is the world's biggest exporter of coconut oil,averaging 1 million tons a year.

Thursday May 27, 2004 - SECOND board-listed CB Industrial Products Bhd(CBIP) is well on its way to becoming a leading provider of palm oilmilling equipment and engineering services at the international level.

Wednesday May 26, 2004 - THE significance of China as the single largestimporter of Malaysian palm oil especially over the past five yearsstrongly reflects China’s growing domestic demand and confidence in thesupply and quality of the commodity.

ISLAMABAD, May 28 Asia Pulse - The government is considering a proposal toreduce general sales tax (GST) to 15 per cent from 20 per cent on importsof palm oil and palm olein at the persistent demand of the vanaspati gheemanufacturers, well-placed sources said.