Archived News

8/26/2004 KUALA LUMPUR -- Pioneer oils and fats manufacturer, PremiumNutrients Bhd, expects to achieve about 10 percent growth in turnover frominvestment in European Union (EU) countries in the next three to fouryears, says its group managing director P.N. Agarwal.

PUTRAJAYA, Aug 26 (Bernama) -- The Ministry of Plantation Industriesand Commodities (MPIC) is seeking for more funds under the 2005 budget inorder to provide better incentives for the forest plantation industry.The Budget will be tabled this Sept 10."The government has already given incentives, but because the longgestation period for the forest plantations, we have to look at whatincentives that can attract investors," he said at a media briefing heretoday on his impending mission to Sao Tome & Principe."What we are looking into is actually to provide more incentives forforest plantations of rubber."He added that the ministry was also seeking the government's approvalto give RM1 billion for the downstream activities of palm oil."I think we have been one of the main contributors to the exportearnings of the country. Last year, the commodities contributed RM59.5billion, with palm oil alone contributing RM28 billion," he added. --BERNAMA

8/25/04 INDIA (Oilmandi) - The Directorate-General of Foreign Trade(DGFT) has been hauled to court by several corporates over irregularitiesin the allotment of quota for importing edible oils at concessional duty.

1. http://161.142.157.2/databank/sms/smscorp.htm

JAKARTA, Aug 24 Asia Pulse - Malaysian investors are studying cooperationwith state-owned plantation company PTPN XIV to build oil palm plantationsin Sulawesi.

8/24/2004 , KENNESAW, Ga. /PRNewswire/ -- Wise Foods announces WiseChoice(R), the company's first line of all natural healthy snacks. WiseChoice Potato Crisps and Soy-Potato Crisps have no trans fat orhydrogenated oils, and no artificial flavors and colors. All of theproducts in the Wise Choice line are baked, have 70% less fat thantraditional potato chips, and have just 110 calories per serving.

Aug 16 2004 - The British Government stands accused of damaging theenvironment and polluting watercourses in Papua New Guinea, as well as theabuse of workers' rights, in a letter sent by landowners on the island tothe International Development Secretary Hilary Benn. Working with Friendsof the Earth, the local land owners are calling for compensation for thedamage done by Government-funded palm oil plantations on the island.

Bisnis Indonesia - WWF invites members of RSPO (Roundtable on SustainablePalm Oil) to implement sustainable and responsible palm oil plantationsand industries. Executive Director of World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)Indonesia, Mubariq Ahmad said that the development of the palm oilindustry has raised concern from international consumers and otherstakeholders, including European entrepreneurs. "So far, many oil palmplantations and industries still have negative social and environmentalimpacts," he said last week. This was stated in connection with the RSPOmeeting scheduled for 5-6 October 2004 in Jakarta. This event is organizedby Gapki (Gabungan Pengusaha Kelapa Sawit Indonesia = Association ofIndonesian Palm Oil Companies), KMSI (Indonesian Palm Oil Commission) andWWF Indonesia. He mentioned that the negative impacts are associated withthe clearing of high conservation value forests, conflicts betweenwildlife and plantations due to habitat loss, as well as land and forestfires for land clearing. To anticipate the spread of the negative impact,WWF has urged palm oil companies to participate in the Roundtable onSustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). Last year, the RSPO meeting was held in KualaLumpur.

CHICAGO (Dow Jones)--Portions of Minnesota's soybean crop saw freezingtemperatures in some areas over the weekend, causing concern of frostkilling underdeveloped soybean plants. Agronomists, though, maintain thatthe effect of the very low temperatures was negligible."The crop was not harmed very badly at all," said Steve Sodeman, cropconsultant in Martin County, Minn., noting that far less than 1% of thecrop was affected by the cold temperatures.Sodeman said he did not see frost himself, but did hear about itforming in other parts of the state.According to Seth Naeve, soybean agronomist at the University ofMinnesota, the freezing temperatures were isolated to western and northernareas of the belt. According to the National Weather Service, westerntowns such as Appleton, Minn., and northern towns such as Little Falls sawtemperatures as low as 32 degrees Fahrenheit.Temperatures must fall to about 28 degrees for at least one hour tokill a soybean plant, Naeve said.Some spots along the edges of fields, Sodeman said, showed a change toa more yellowish color, indicating early maturity that might have beenhastened by the weekend's drop in temperatures."All we got was a superficial burning you could see on the upperleaves," he said.Naeve said that in the northern part of the state where the coldtemperatures were more severe, losses could amount to more than 25%. Butbecause soybean fields were so far behind in development, they would nothave likely made it past a normal frost date."They were so far behind, it's likely they would have been frostedanyway," he said.But the real issue, Sodeman said, is not the freezing temperatures.Rather, it is the early maturity that is now resulting from the coolgrowing conditions. Because soybean plants take their cues from theenvironment on when to begin maturing, the soybean crop in southernMinnesota started showing signs of the early stages of maturity aroundAug. 15, Sodeman said. Normally, soybean plants in the area do not beginturning color until Aug. 25-30.Consequently, development has been cut short, leavingfewer-than-normal pods on the plants. The number of nodes, which areclusters of soybean pods on the branches of the plant, are down to around10 this year, when they normally total about 12, Sodeman said. A good nodecount would be from 15 to 18, he added.The plants are also shorter than normal, he said, which will causeproblems later during harvest."There'll probably be a 3-5 bushel (per acre) loss because the beansare too close to the ground and too low for the combine to get," he said.Looking ahead, a warm September would not likely have significantbenefit to the southern Minnesota crop, Sodeman said."Warm weather won't really change it," he said. "Once they start toyellow, it's about 30 days to harvest."The U.S. Department of Agriculture currently has Minnesota figured atproducing 292 million bushels with a yield of 40 bushels per acre, up from229.4 million produced last year with a yield of 31 bushels.

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Malaysia's most valuableplantation firm, IOI Corp, said on Friday it would raise yearly palm oiloutput by more than 12 percent to meet strong demand from China and India,boosting profits.Higher Malaysian crude palm oil (CPO) prices of 1,500-1,600 ringgit($395-$421) a tonne are expected for the rest of the year and early 2005,added IOI group executive director Lee Yeow Chor."We expect our performance to be improved due to increases in our palmoil production, a continued favourable property market and a furtherenhancement of earnings from our downstream manufacturing segments," Leetold Reuters.IOI, which has a market value of $2.4 billion, derives about 60 percentof profits from its plantations. It also builds houses and has palm oilrefining operations.At 0911 GMT on Friday the Malaysian benchmark third-month palm oilcontract, November , was up 17 ringgit at 1,487 ringgit a tonne.Malaysian third-month CPO prices have fallen by slightly more than 10percent since the start of 2004, hitting a nine-month closing low of 1,391ringgit in mid-July.Analysts polled by Reuters forecast a 20 percent rise in IOI's netprofit for the year through June 2005 to 843.15 million ringgit, 70.40cents per share.Lee declined to give his own forecast but investors are also bullish.This year IOI shares have risen 5.8 percent versus a 2 percent gain forthe benchmark Kuala Lumpur Composite Index which has a market value of$105 billion.IOI shares closed up 1.9 percent at 8.15 ringgit on Friday.

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