Archived News

BANGI, June 24 (Bernama) -- The world is now assured that Malaysia is theproducer of the highest quality palm oil with the incorporation ofDeterioration of Bleachability Index (DOBI) Value into domestic crude palmoil sales (CPO) contract, said Minister of Primary Plantation Industries,Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui.

24/6/04 - MALAYSIA plans to reduce its palm oil production cost to remaincompetitive globally by setting up fully-automated palm oil mills onestates to cut labour cost.

PETALING JAYA, June 23 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) isdrafting an act on biofuel to help develop the country's biofuel industry,its director-general Tan Sri Dr Yusof Basiron said Wednesday.

DAVAO CITY, June 24 (ANEX-PNA) -- The Philippines is holding talks withMalaysia to bring in appropriate technologies and investments for a palmoil industry venture.

Kuala Lumpur, June 22 (Dow Jones) - Asian cash palm oil prices were mixedTuesday, with products in Malaysia slightly lower, tracking declines inthe futures market.The Malaysian market also drifted downward because of the absence ofinterest from a large Indonesian-linked trading company, traders said.The company has been buying aggressively at high prices in recent days,but there was no sign of further interest from the company Tuesday,traders said.With other buyers unwilling to pay similarly high levels, prices easedslightly.Products in Malaysia were around $2.5 to $5 a metric ton lower while thebenchmark September CPO futures contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivativeswas down 2 ringgit ($1=MYR3.8) a metric ton at MYR1,517.Traders said the market was choppy Tuesday as participants look tore-establish comfortable trading levels."(The Indonesian-linked company) has been chasing up the market. Butwhen they aren't around, then we don't know where the real levels shouldbe. People find it difficult to quote prices," a trader said.Traders said buying interest was also subdued since there were no newbullish leads. Friendly supply and demand figures issued Monday have beenfully factored into the market, they said.Monday, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said Malaysian palm oilexports in the June 1-20 period totaled 628,541 tons, up 9.7% on month.Another surveyor, SGS (Malaysia) Bhd., pegged June 1-20 exports at 629,233tons, up 6.2% on month.Private forecaster Palmis Management Bhd. also issued a friendly cropreport Monday as it projected lower-than-expected stocks of 1.20million-1.21 million tons at end-June.In the cash market, CPO for June/July shipment was offered at 1,540ringgit ($1=MYR3.8) a ton, up MYR5 from Monday, delivered basis in SouthMalaysia.RBD palm oil for July shipment was offered at $427.50/ton, down $2.5from Monday.RBD palm olein for July shipment was offered at $435.00/ton, down $2.5from Monday.In Indonesia, the government sold 2,500 metric tons of crude palm oilat a semiweekly auction, said an official from PT Perkebunan Nusantara,the agency that sells palm oil from state-run plantations.PT Pacific Palmindo Industri bought 1,000 tons, free on board Belawan,at3,945 rupiah ($1=IDR9,400) a kilogram.PT Bukit Kapur Reksa bought 500 tons, FOB Dumai, at IDR3,945/kg.PT Multimas Nabati Asahan bought 500 tons, ex-plantations, atIDR3,852/kg.PT Nubika Jaya bought 500 tons, ex-plantations, at IDR3,889/kg.Tuesday's auction prices are as much as IDR160 higher than the pricesin the previous auction Thursday.RBD palm olein in Jakarta was offered at IDR4,525/kg, up IDR75 fromMonday.

Buenos Aires, June 22 (OsterDowJones) - A ship carrying Argentinesoybean exports to China is disembarking normally in the southern Chineseport of Shenzhen, despite media reports to the contrary, Juan CarlosMorelli, Argentina's ambassador to China, said in a local radio interviewTuesday.On Monday, media reports said China's General Administration ofQuality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, or AQSIQ, had rejected ordetained a 50,000 metric-ton shipment of Argentine soybeans because itcontained an unacceptable amount of fungicide.The news sparked concern that China, which had recently rejected anumber of Brazilian soybean shipments for similar reasons, would causeproblems for Argentine exporters.However, Morelli denied that any Argentine ships were having problemsunloading their goods."The AQSIQ has just confirmed that the ship in question isdisembarking its cargo normally and that, up until now, there has been notype of detention or delay of the cargo," Morelli said in an interviewwith Radio Uno.Morelli was asked by the Radio Uno interviewer, "So this problem hasbeen solved?""There is no problem," Morelli replied.China is the world's No. 1 soybean importer, buying around 20 milliontons of soybeans annually.Argentina, the No. 3 soybean exporter, shipped about 6 million tons ofsoybeans to China in 2003, making China the single most important buyer oflocal agricultural goods last year.Argentine President Nestor Kirchner is scheduled to visit China at theend of this week to boost commercial ties between the two nations.Kirchner will be accompanied by more than 250 representatives ofArgentina's private sector, including a large delegation of agribusinessleaders.

EIU ViewsWire World -- 06/21/04 - There has been an unexpected reductionin demand for soybeans, principally as a result of developments in China.The Chinese government has taken a number of measures to cool the rate ofeconomic growth, with the result that margins for crushers have becomepoor. Consequently, contracts have been cancelled and this has led toreduced expectations of import levels during the remainder of the 2003/04(October-September) season. There has also been some tightening of importregulations, which has acted as a further brake on import volumes. Smallvolumes of imports are expected during the third quarter of 2004, althoughmost observers anticipate that imports will again pick up during the lastquarter of 2004.

PETALING JAYA, June 22 (Bernama) -- Malaysian palm oil price is expectedto be higher due to the possible shortage in production of the commodity,Malaysian Palm Oil Association (MPOA) chief executive officer M.R.Chandran said.

KUALA LUMPUR, June 22 (Bernama) -- North Korea is keen on having a countertrade arrangement with Malaysia in its quest to buy more palm oil from thecountry.

23/6/04 - PALM Oil Refiners Association of Malaysia (Poram) chairman ErKok Leong has called on industry players to produce good quality crudepalm oil (CPO), as this is imperative for the production of good qualityfinished palm products.

23/6/04 - SINDORA Bhd is reducing its dependency on the timber-relatedbusiness by further developing its oil palm business division.

BANGKOK POST 21/6/2004- Despite an earlier plan to expand areas used forgrowing rubber by a million rai, the Agriculture Ministry yesterdayannounced a scheme to increase oil palm cultivation from two to 10 millionrai within 25 years. This would involve areas of land that are currentlybeing used to produce rubber.