Archived News

13/10/04Palm Oil Discount Has Room To Widen(Dow Jones)--Narrow discount to soyoil suggests further downside roomfor palm oil prices; main product RBD palm olein at $50-$60 below soyoilcurrently. Unless discount widens back to around $100, may be difficultfor palm oil exports to match Sep levels; strong Sep demand largely due tohefty discount at that time, traders say.

Thursday October 14, 2004 - ALTHOUGH appointed PPB Oil Palms Bhd managingdirector just two months ago, Khoo Eng Min is no stranger to PPB group andthe oil palm industry.

Thursday October 14, 2004 - PPB Oil Palms Bhd plans to aggressively expandits oil palm plantations in Indonesia while consolidating its activitiesin east Malaysia, said newly appointed managing director Khoo Eng Min.

11/10/04 SAO PAULO (Dow Jones)--Brazilian farmers have planted just 1% oftheir potentially record 2004-05 (October-September) soybean crop due to alack of rain in the center-west region, local agricultural consultancyCeleres said Monday.At the same point last year farmers had planted 3% of their crop.Isolated rainfall in Mato Grosso, the main producing state and alsothe first to plant, were insufficient to sustain soy planting, said aweekly report.However, weather forecasts indicate heavier rains in these areas overthe next week, it added.Celeres estimates Brazilian soybean output at 64.2 million metrictons, some 26% higher than last season as yields return to normal.Farmers in Mato Grosso plant in early October to allow time for asecond corn or cotton crop. This practice also occurs in the states ofMato Grosso do Sul, Goias, Parana and Rio Grande do Sul, although weatherconditions have not allowed planting there this year.The Brazilian soybean season typically picks up pace in the secondhalf of October.Sales of Brazil's 2003-04 crop moved forward two percentage pointslast week and now encompass 80% of the crop. But sales remain well behindlast year, when 89% was sold and a five-year average of 98% sold.Producers were forced to sell with many harvest costs coming due onOct. 15, said the report.The forward soybean sales market was extremely quiet this week. Only9% of the 2004-05 harvest has been sold, compared with 41% at the samestage last year.With sales of this year's and next year's crop so far behind schedule,farmers are worried how they will finance the next season, said Celeressoy analyst Anderson Galvao Gomes.Brazil is the world's No. 2 producer and exporter of soybeans.

11/10/04 SAO PAULO (Dow Jones)--Brazilian soy production could reach 140million metric tons by 2020, according to a study released by Brazil'sdevelopment bank, or BNDES.There is an additional 15 million hectares of land available innortheastern states of Bahia, Piaui, Maranhao and Tocantins where soycould be planted, according to economist Tagore Siqueira, who wasresponsible for the BNDES study.Currently, these regions represent 5% of Brazil's soy production,which is expected to reach roughly 60 million tons for the 2004-05(October-September) crop.The study also concluded that development in these regions could bestymied by poor infrastructure and that investments in rail transportationare of key importance for future production in the area.Brazil is the world's No. 2 soybean producer.

Accra, Oct 11, Daily Graphic --The Ministry of Trade, Industry andPresident’s Special Initiatives has placed restrictions on the export andlocal marketing of palm oil and chilies with immediate effect.

11/10/04 Kuala Lumpur - Tradewinds Corporation Bhd, formerly PernasInternational Holdings Bhd, expects its plantations business to increaseearnings contribution from 40% currently to 60% by 2007, says its groupchief executive officer Mohd Redza Shah Abdul Wahid.

10/10/04 - FELCRA settlers have another reason to cheer this coming HariRaya as they will receive dividend payments totalling RM108.5 million nextmonth. The amount is part of the RM232.2 million of dividends to be paidto 86,521 settlers by Felcra Berhad from profits made by its 1,311plantations nationwide last year.

07/10/04 - Heavy Influence of Rainfall on Seasonal Palm Oil Production Thefactors influencing palm oil production differ fundamentally from thoseinfluencing the output of seed oils, at least as far as the seasonalfluctuations are concerned. While the seasonal fluctuations of seed oiloutput are man-made, those of palm oil are made biologically and canvirtually not be influenced by man. Oilseed crops are harvested within ashort period of 6-8 weeks and it then depends on the decision of theoilseed millers how they distribute the crushings over the whole season.The main factors influencing their decision are the demand for theproducts, the prices for the raw material and the products as well as thecrush margins resulting therefrom.As against this, the distribution of palm oil production over a year canvirtually not be influenced by the producers. It is dependent mainly onthe heavy fluctuations of rainfall in the oil palm producing areas. Onlythe annual changes in palm oil production are partly influenced by man,viz. by the changes in plantings and the resulting changes in the maturearea, though only, 2½-4 years later. Additionally any changes infertilizing and other agronomic inputs as well as the biological yieldcycle influence the annual changes in production.A look at Malaysia, the world’s largest palm oil producer, reveals howenormous the monthly changes in rainfall are. The following graphs showthat even the multiyear monthly averages fluctuated sharply between 334 mmin November and 124 mm in June. In between there is an interim peak at 235mm in April (all in West Malaysia). In assessing the effects of rainfallon palm oil production it should be taken into consideration that oilpalms are perennial crops, viz. the production process lasts throughout ayear and several years. That is, every month the following stages of theprocess occur simultaneously and continuously:- Initiation of the buds (around three years before the harvest),- Sex differentiation (around two years before the harvest), influencingthe number of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) per hectare,- Abortion of female fruits, if any (about ten months before the harvest),influencing the final FFB number to be harvested and- Flowering (about 5 months before the harvest).

New Delhi , Oct. 8 - IN yet another step to curb inflationary pressuresduring the coming festival season, the Government has eased norms forduty-free imports of vanaspati from Nepal.

10/10/04 Oilmandi - Major palm oil players and non-governmentalorganizations plan to produce standards and criteria for a sustainablepalm oil industry within a year, the Roundtable On Sustainable Palm Oil(RSPO), said Wednesday. Teoh Cheng Hai, secretary general of the RSPO, saidas the standards and criteria cover a broad range of issues, it will takelonger to produce them. The RSPO ended its second meeting in JakartaWednesday. However, it has yet todecide when and where the third meetingwill take place next year. The RSPO is an association founded in Aprilthis year which groups major players in the palm oil supply chain,including oil palm growers, processors,traders, banks, retailers andenvironmental NGOs.

07/10/04 Oilmandi - India's MY 2004 soybean production to touch a record 7million metric tons, due to increased planting in response to relativehigher prices, as per information from the U.S. Department ofAgriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service .