Archived News

Wednesday December 15, 2004 - AN EFFECTIVE way to discourage Indonesiansfrom looking for work overseas is for the republic to provide them withmore job opportunities. On its own, it does not have the means to do so.

16/12/04 SAO PAULO (Dow Jones)--Brazil's 2004-05 soybean crop(October-September) will total 63.24 million metric tons, 28.5% higherthan the 49.20 million tons produced last year, the Brazilian CensusBureau, or IBGE, said Thursday.The second estimate for the current crop was slightly higher than the63.09 million tons forecast in November. The figure is lower than the 61.4million tons estimated by the Agriculture Ministry Tuesday, but lower thanthe U.S. Department of Agriculture figure of 64.5 million tons.Despite low prices and rising production costs, the bureau detected a6% increase in planted area to 22.8 million hectares.Area is growing because of the lack of other options, IBGE said in itsmonthly report. The main alternative crop, corn, has similarly low pricesand high costs but isn't as easy to sell.Summer corn production is expected to rise just 3.3% to 32.11 milliontons from 31.07 million tons last year.Summer-crop corn planted area is actually seen falling 1.2% to 8.96million hectares this year, but average yields are seen rising 4.5% to2,779 kg per hectare as corn recovers from a drought-affected 2004 crop.Brazil's grain, oilseed and cereal crop is expected to total 134.0million tons this season, up from 119.2 million tons last year.

Friday December 17, 2004 - FUEL prices are not expected to rise this yearand the government is expecting two sub-committees to submit theirrecommendations on the use of natural gas vehicles and palm diesel earlynext year.

16/12/04 (Dow Jones)--Bearish outlook for soybean prices negative forother global oils and oilseeds, including palm oil, traders say. USsoybean prices unlikely to reach $6.00/bushel next year due to abundantsupply, says Jim Smitherman, president of Harvest Trading Group; addsfront-month soybean contract on CBOT could even be in $4.50-$4.75 range by2005 spring planting (January soybean last traded at $5.46).

16/12/04 (Dow Jones)--Spread of Asian soybean rust in Brazil potentiallypositive for soy complex prices, which would be indirectly favorable forpalm oil prices, palm oil traders say. Agriculture Ministry crop agencyEmbrapa reports rust fungus found in Sao Paulo, the sixth state wheredisease discovered this season. No estimates yet on damage caused by rust,if any. Rust cut yields by 10% last year; a repeat this season likely toaffect soybean output, would be friendly for overall global oils andoilseeds market.

16/12/04 (Dow Jones)--RBD palm olein prices in China likely to remainunder pressure in medium term as stocks are poised to build up further.Research firm Shanghai Pansun says stocks at major ports could touch300,000 tons by year-end as new cargoes arrive. RBD palm olein in Chinanow quoted around CNY4,500-CNY4,550/ton; weak domestic prices likely tolimit room for further imports by China, which is bearish for CPO futuresin Malaysia.

12/16/2004 THIS DAY (NIGERIA) - AAGM - Ebonyi State Government has signedMemorandum Of Understanding (MOU) with a Germany-based internationalInvestment and Trade Company, Globe Commodities, to establish palm oilprocessing plant and expand the state's palm oil plantation to 30,000hectares.

Wednesday December 15, 2004 - KUCHING: There has been a new surge ofinvestors keen to develop native customary rights (NCR) land for oil palmplantations, said state Land Development Minister Datuk Dr James Masing.

12/16/2004 - Mark Mattson and colleagues from the National Institute onAging, Baltimore, US, have found that saturated and trans fats are notonly bad for the heart but bad for the brain as well. They have linkedthese fats to age-related memory loss and a lessening of the ability tolearn.

New Straits Times - Dec 14 6:51 PM - A SHORTAGE of workers could frustratethe State's target to develop one million hectares of land into oil palmplantations by 2010.Land Development Minister Datuk Seri Dr James Masing said oil palmproduction could also be affected if there is not enough labour.

December 15 2004 - CONSTRUCTION company Ahmad Zaki Resources Bhd (AZRB) isdiversifying into oil palm plantation following its acquisition of 95 percent equity in PT Ichtiar Gusti Pudi IGP for 17 billion rupiah (100 rupiah= RM0.04).

12/15/2004 Renewable Fuel News - Biodiesel used in existing dieselvehicles not fitted with aftertreatment devices results in "similar"carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions levels whencompared to conventional diesel fuel, but particulate matter (PM)emissions "are clearly raised" when making the same comparison. That'saccording to results of a biodiesel test carried out by Japan's NationalTraffic Safety and Environment Laboratory, which was released by theMinistry of Environment.