Archived News

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Nov 5 (Asia in Focus) - A Malaysian trade missionwill visit Sarangani province and neighboring areas later this month toopen up possible trade exchanges and explore investment opportunities inthe area.

2 November 2004 KORONADAL CITY ­- Palm oil production will earn biggerprofits for farmers in South Cotabato since the crop is suited to allareas in the province with the exception of Lake Sebu town owing to itshigh elevation, Rey Legasti, provincial agriculture officer, said.

PULAU PINANG, Nov 4 (Bernama) -- Entrepreneurs planning to export theirproducts to countries in Asean are advised not to use middlemen to handletheir applications for the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) toavoid being cheated.

November 3, 2004 10:38 PM PHILIPPINES - The Department of Environment andNatural Resources recently issued guidelines for identifying forest areasthat may be developed into palm-oil plantations.

11/5/2004 THE ECONOMIC TIMES - Branded oils player Agro Tech Foods hastied up with Parakh Foods to manufacture Sundrop and Rath vanaspati morecheaply.

The Jakarta Post - Nov 05 1:06 PM - Malaysia, which had long been a landof hope and promise for Indonesian migrant workers (TKI) seeking betterlives, has now closed its doors.

Mumbai , Nov. 5 - FOLLOWING intense pressure mounted by the palm oilimporters' lobby and with a view to bringing the vexed `carotenoid contentin crude palm oil' issue to a finale, the Government has decided toconduct an on-the-spot study at the point of production and shipment.

Nov 04 5:52 PM - Sime Darby Bhd is allocating a total of RM3 billion toacquire plantation land, power, automotive, and oil & gas businesses inthe region, as part of its expansion plan, its group chief executive DatukAhmad Zubir Murshid says.

Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Sime Darby Bhd., Malaysia's biggest diversifiedgroup, may spend as much as 2 billion ringgit ($526 million) to buy powerand oil palm plantation assets in Asia and sell its unprofitablebusinesses to bolster earnings.Sime may buy assets in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, Group ChiefExecutive Ahmad Zubair Murshid told reporters after a shareholders'meeting in Kuala Lumpur. It's also in discussions to sell fourunprofitable units for 200 million ringgit within 18 months. He declinedto identify the businesses.

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 1 (Bernama) -- Golden Hope Plantations Bhd, which isin discussion with a big group in West Asia to form a partnership topenetrate the palm oil market in the region, expects it to be concluded asearly as before the end of the year.The partnership could be a joint venture or other forms of a win-winarrangement, said group chief executive, Datuk Sabri Ahmad.Countries such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Iran have large markets andconsume some one million tonnes of palm oil annually, he said at a pressconference after the completion ceremony of the RM2.6 billionrationalisation exercise between Golden Hope and Island & Peninsular Bhdhere today.Golden Hope is looking for opportunities overseas and apart from WestAsia, it is also eyeing Central Eastern European countries such as Ukraineand Russia and new members of the Europen Union such as Poland.Sabri said that the group already has presence in Holland, SouthAfrica, Vietnam, Bangladesh and China.He said that Golden Hope will continue to focus on its core competencyin the plantation sector, while at the same time moving further downsteam."Therefore, if there is a cyclical change in crude palm oil's prices,the group will be cushioned by the additional earnings on downstreamactivities. The company wants to go beyond just being a plantationcompany," he added.Sabri also stressed that the group will be spending money for brandingto raise the brand equity of its products, and said that comments bycertain parties that Golden Hope has no direct management of its foreignassets were inaccurate.The rationalisation exercise between Golden Hope and Island &Peninsular involved asset swapping, which saw Golden Hope disposing of 99percent of Golden Hope Properties Sdn Bhd, 60 percent of Golden HopeDevelopment Sdn Bhd and 100 percent of Golden Hope Properties (Johor) SdnBhd to Island & Peninsular.Island & Peninsular in turn, disposed of 99.6 percent of itsplantationarm, Austral Enterprsie Bhd, to Golden Hope.Earlier in his speech, Sabri said that the exercise has increasedGolden Hope's land bank to 188,093 hectares from 132,826 hectares.The total oil palm planted area will surge to 172,000 hectares from120,000 hectares and fresh fruit bunches's production is set to increaseto2.87 million tonnes from two million tonnes now, he said.Sabri said that crude palm oil production is envisaged to reach620,000tonnes. -- BERNAMA

11/02/2004 08:41 UKRAINE - According to market sources, a largeshipment of crude palm oil (about 40,000 tonnes) is expected to arrive inUkraine in the first half of November.

KORONADAL CITY, PHILIPPINES -- Agriculture officials in South Cotabatoprovince are bullish over the expansion projects initiated by KenramPhilippines for the planting of palm oil.