Archived News

KLANG, Feb 15 (Bernama) -- Plantations company, Golden Hope PlantationsBhd is planning on increasing its hectarage of oil palm plantations inKalimantan, Indonesia to 50,000 hectares in the near future, its groupchief executive Datuk Sabri Ahmad said.

New Delhi, Feb 15 (PTI) The government today hiked customs duty on crudepalm oils by 15 per cent and lowered their tariff values from 54 to 74dollars per tonne following the fall in global prices of the edible oil.Customs duty on crude palm oil and its fractions was increased from 65 percent to 80 per cent and on other palm oils from 75 to 90 per cent, anofficial release said today.

2/15/05--India cuts crude palm oil base import price to $400/tn vs $454

2/15/05- The Indian government Tuesday cut the base prices for palm oiland palm olein, from which import taxes are calculated, but raised theirimport duties, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement.

(Dow Jones)--BMD trader says MPOB estimate showing a 1.8% rise inend-January stocks "slightly bearish" for prices as the market wasexpecting stocks to fall. "Besides, there is now talk that Februaryproduction may not drop as much as the 20% predicted by some, which meansthere will be further buildup in stocks this month," he says. All thesefactors point to revival of pressure on prices. Benchmark May contract nowat MYR1,315/ton, down MYR16/ton from Monday's close.Malaysia's palm oil exports in January fell 12% on month to 995,345 metrictons, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board said Tuesday.MPOB said January palm oil output also fell 12% on month, to 1.15 milliontons, while end-January stocks rose 1.8% on month to 1.52 million tons.Traders said the figures were mostly in line with market expectations.Last week, the Malaysian Palm Oil Association, a lobby group of bigplantation companies, had estimated a 13% drop in January production.The following are details of the January crop data issued by the MalaysianPalm Oil Board:

Saturday, February 12, 2005 Jakarta - Indonesia has lifted the import dutyon stearic acid from China as part of the Southeast Asian free tradeagreement with the country, the Ministry of Finance announced on Friday.

2/15/2005 Bangkok Post - Cheap financing sources, promotional privilegesand price guarantees will be the key measures the government will provideto investors interested in the biodiesel development project, according todeputy permanent secretary for energy Pornchai Rujiprapa.

15/2/05 KANSAS CITY (Dow Jones)--Brazi's soybean production for marketingyear 2004/05 is forecast at 61.8 million tons on an area of 23 millionhectares, up 9.2 million tons from the previous year, according to anattache report dated Feb. 2 but posted Monday on USDA's ForeignAgricultural Service Web site.

Tuesday February 15, 2005 - MALAYSIA'S palm oil output is expected to fallby about 12% to 1.16 million tonnes in January from December, a Reuterspoll of leading plantation firms showed yesterday.

Friday February 11, 2005 - OIL palm planters can increase their yields toup to five tonnes a hectare annually compared to the current four tonnesby implementing better management practices, said Malaysian Palm OilAssociation (MPOA) chief executive M.R. Chandran.

Nagapattinam (Tamil Nadu), Feb 13 : Cargo handling at the port here, whichremained suspended since the tsunami strike in December, resumed todaywith the arrival of a Indonesian steamer carrying edible palm oil crude.

MEDAN, Feb 8 Asia Pulse - Indonesia's exports of crude palm oil (CPO) andits derivative crude olein to India may increase in the next few monthsfollowing a decision of the Indian government to lower the beta karotenecontent of crude palm oil.