Archived News

23/10/04 - Customs data showed China imported 1.45 million tons of soybeanin September, down 51.5%, and 13.95 million tons of soybean from Januaryto September, down 21.2%. China imported 43,000 tons of soyoil inSeptember, down 15.8% and 2.044 million tons of soyoil from January toSeptember, up 70.6%. China imported 354,000 tons of palm oil in September,down 0.5% and 2.757 million tons of palm oil from January to September, up10%.

27/10/2004 Agra Europe - Higher import quotas by China has spurredIndonesia, the world's second largest palm oil producer after Malaysia, tobelieve it can boost exports to the East Asian giant.

Ho,Ghana Oct 27, (GNA)- GRATIS Foundation has initiated moves to helplocal oil-palm producers in the Volta Region to change over from pressingpalm fruits in dug-outs with their feet to using a micro palm fruitdigester. The digester, which is capable of processing five tonnes of palmfruits per hour, costs 2.5 million cedis.

26/10/04 (Dow Jones)--China and ASEAN have agreed to eliminate tariffs onmerchandise goods by 2010 as part of ongoing free-trade agreement talks;Beiking Ministry of Commerce says deal to be signed next month andreductions begin next year. That should further open up China to rawmaterials trade from ASEAN. Trade with ASEAN already accounts for morethan 10% of China's total annual trade volume.

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 26 - Felcra Bhd aims to venture into the lucrative herbindustry to diversify its business and reduce its dependency on rubber andpalm oil earnings.

26/10/04 - In Brazil unfavourably dry conditions continued to affectsoybean plantings and early germination in the states of Mato Grosso,Goias and Minas Gerais. However, some good rainfall was received on Oct 24and 25 in southern parts of Mato Grosso do Sul, Parana, Santa Catarina andparts of Rio Grande do Sul. Overall, soybean plantings are running behindand crop prospects have deteriorated due to the detrimental weather inMato Grosso, which was Brazil’s largest soybean producing state last year.ABIOVE estimates this year’s soybean crop at 61.5 Mn T, up from 50.8 Mn Tlast year. Last week we published our crop estimate of 60.0 Mn T andpointed out that this year’s total Brazilian soybean plantings will fallshort of expectations. The first planting estimate of CONAB is scheduledto be released today.ABIOVE reported soybean crushings of members at 2.25 Mn T in Sept, downseasonally from 2.43 Mn T in August. Basis this information, we estimatetotal Brazilian soybean crushings at 2.58 Mn T in Sept compared with 2.80Mn T a month and 2.55 Mn T a year earlier.

26/10/04 - U.S. soybean exports continued to increase seasonally to 43.3Mn bu in the week ended Oct 24, thereof about 50% to China. Last week’stotal exports were slightly revised upward by 0.2 Mn bu to 36.5 Mn bu.Though below the year-ago level in the latest week, cumulative exportssince Sept 1 are well above the year-ago level at 142.5 Mn bu (up 9%).Soybean exports to China are very impressive. This is linked to the hugepent-up demand in China caused by the low imports and the resulting sharpdecline in Chinese stocks in preceding months.

22/10/04 - Weather conditions will be the key variable to watch in comingweeks and months. An improvement in rainfall is urgently required in allof Argentina and most of Brazil. Original planting intentions for wheatand sunflowers could not be accomplished in northern parts of Argentina,where the planting window has now closed.Some meteorologists indicate that prospects for rainfall have improved forthe next 1-2 weeks in Brazil, while others still indicate thatbelow-normal rainfall will continue to be experienced until at least Oct31. A so-called mini La Niña developed over the past six months and wasblamed for the dryness in most of Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguayin the past five months.A moderate El Niño is likely to develop within the next 2-4 months,according to several meteorologists. 6 out of 11 internationalclimatological centres see the likelihood of such a scenario to developuntil March 2005. This is in contrast to the announcement of theAustralian Meteorological Bureau earlier this week, which pointed to thelikelihood that El Niño would weaken rather than strengthen. If an El Niñodevelops, it is expected to result in above-normal rainfall in Februaryand March 2005 in many areas of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil. This wouldcreate ideal conditions for the Asian rust fungus to continue to spreadwhich could become a major factor to watch. It will be very important thatfarmers will be better skilled so that they can detect the fungus at anearly stage and immediately begin spraying before it is too late.The El Niño has global impacts: Several parts of Australia have recentlysuffered from very dry conditions. Rainfall was below normal duringJuly/Oct in most of Australia and in the Republic of South Africa.In Indonesia, rainfall improved in September and was above normal in mostareas of Sumatra and Kalimantan, but still below normal in Java andSula-wesi. Average precipitation in September was 11% above normal. Palmoil production prospects in Indonesia and Malaysia for 2005 and 2006 willto a large extent depend on whether El Niño conditions will develop and,particularly, how severe the El Niño and the accompanying rainfall deficitwill be in South East Asia.

22/10/04 - Rapeseed and Products 2004/05 world production of rapeseed &canola has turned out higher than expected hitherto and will be up sharplyby 3.7 Mn T. But the bearish effects of very high supplies (primarily inEurope) are largely offset by the unusually strong demand for rape oil. Itis mainly the additional demand for biodiesel which has boosted rapeseedcrushings to full capacity in the EU-25 since September. Still, rape oilprices continued to strengthen in Europe to around US$ 670 for nearestforward shipment. At that level they command a premium of around $ 110vis-a-vis soya oil. With mineral oil prices trading above US$ 50 perbarrel, biodiesel producers are enjoying a very profitable situation andvery high margins with current rape oil prices. It can be assumed that aslong as mineral oil prices stay so high, biodiesel production willcontinue at an unusually high level. With new capacities having come onstream, we realize that our previous demand estimates for rape oil in theEuropean Union need to be revised upward. We will publish the results ofour analysis - - including more details on European biodiesel capacitiesand prospects for 2005 - - in the special study Prices in the RapeseedComplex which we are currently preparing. (You are invited to contactinfo@oilworld.biz or visit us at www.oilworld.biz for further details.)The developments in sunflower oil and rape oil will raise world demand forsoybean oil and palm oil and will, in our assessment, contribute toappreciating prices in the medium term.

Tuesday October 26, 2004 - KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysia-Pakistan JointMinisterial Commission meets today after a lapse of four years andofficials from both sides have prepared extensively to make up for losttime.

10/26/04 (Oilmandi) - Are some concerns CPO supply may be disrupted inmid-November due to Deepavali and Idul Fitri holidays in Malaysia,Indonesia; official holidays only 2-3 days but workers typically away forlonger. "People are a bit concerned that production will be weaker becauseof all the holidays," says trader at Malaysia house; but lower productionwould be positive for palm oil prices.

Tuesday October 26, 2004 PUTRAJAYA: The Government is drawing up a Bill toprovide incentives for researchers to devote their time to doing researchand development work with commercial potential.