Archived News

12/02/2002 (The Star) - Malaysian palm oil exports outlook for theremaining part of 2002 and 2003 is likely to improve, possibly by morethan 30%, due to anticipated acute shortages in the world's vegetable oilssupply during 2003. During 2001, palm oil exports increased by 16.7% to10.6 M tonnes compared to 9.08 M tonnes in 2000. The strong growthpotential in palm oil earnings is mainly due to the current steady rise inthe price of crude palm oil (CPO) now trading above Ringgit 1500/tonneagainst the average CPO price of Ringgit 894/tonne in 2001.According to the Economic Report 2002/2003, the targeted export earningsfrom both crude and processed palm oil is to increase by 35.5% to Ringgit13.56 bn for 2002 (Ringgit 10 bn in 2001). Plantation analysts still havepositive outlook for palm oil exports despite India's move to revise itsbase import price for different types of palm oil. India, which isMalaysia's largest palm oil importer, imported 1.4 M tonnes of palm oilfrom Malaysia, accounting for 15% of total palm oil exported during thefirst nine months of 2002.

IPOH, Nov 30 (NSTP): Felcra hopes to capture a slice of the the MiddleEast and African market by opening a palm oil refinery in Oman on ajoint-venture basis with a local company soon.Its chairman Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin said the refinery would be the firstto be set up by Felcra."It will be carried out jointly with a reputable public-listed company inthe Sultanate, he said yesterday.The Finance Ministry had given its approval and an agreement is expectedto be signed mid next month.Felcra will hold a 49 per cent stake in the project with an investment ofRM7.5 million, with the remaining stake be held by the Oman company.The total cost of the refinery is about RM100 million, 80 per cent to befinanced by Oman banks.Present was Perak Felcra regional manager Jahare Abu Bakar.Hamzah said the construction of the refinery would begin soon, and wouldbe completed by early 2004. The refinery would largely be managed byMalaysian personnel as Oman did not have the expertise, and would processcrude palm oil imported from Felcra's 150,000 hectares of plantations inMalaysia.The refinery would be located near Port Salalah to enable the palm oil tobe exported to countries like Yemen, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Dubai andQatar.Felcra is also studying the possibility of downstream activities in India,which is a major importer of the commodity.In Kuching, Felcra brought early Hari Raya cheer to 2,636 participants ofits land schemes in Sarawak, by paying them dividends averaging RM600 eachParliamentary secretary to the Rural Development Ministry Datin PadukaRohani Abdul Karim said the total dividends given out this year in theState was RM1.56 million."On the average, each participant gets RM600, but there is one participantis getting RM33,975 as his farm of 13 hectares was well managed," shesaid.Present was Felcra's general manager Juzilman Basir."Palm oil prices this year is good, and is expected to remain at the samelevel next year, Rohani saidShe also said Felcra does not focus its attention solely on plantationdevelopment, but also provided facilities such as skills developmenttraining and infrastructure development in its areas.Juzilman said dividends totalling RM84.8 million would be distributed tothe 77,000 land scheme participants nationwide this year.

IPOH, Nov 30 (Bernama) -- Felcra Berhad plans to set up a RM7.5 millionpalm oil refinery in Oman next year, said its chairman Datuk HamzahZainudin."This will be Felcra's first venture into the palm oil industry in WestAsia," he said after attending a breaking of fast function here yesterday.

New Delhi, Nov 27 (Bernama) -- The Indian Government has hiked the baseimport price or tariff value on the palm group of oils by nearly 10percent following rapid increase in the prices of vegetable oils in theglobal market during the last few months.The Government has, however, left the tariff values of crude soyabean oilunchanged, says a Chennai-datelined report in the financial daily, theHindu Business Line.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Argentina left its forecastfor 2002/03 soy plantings unchanged at 12.6 million hectares, up from 11.6million hectares last year, the agriculture department said Friday.Argentina is a major producer of grains and oilseeds and the world'sNo. 3 exporter of soybeans.Government and private analysts have said strong prices and low inputcosts compared to crops like corn led farmers to plant more of theoilseed.Rains and hail in the country's main farming region also helpedincrease soy area, the department said in its monthly report."Poor weather... across much of the plains, especially in the northernand northeastern sections of Buenos Aires province, meant some farmers hadto plant soy and sunseeds instead of corn; soy and sunseeds have greaterflexibility in terms of optimal planting times," the report stated.The government lowered its forecast for sunflower seed plantings to2.37 million hectares from its estimate of 2.46 million hectares lastmonth. Sunseed area is seen rising about 15 percent from 2.05 millionhectares a year ago.Farm analysts earlier this year predicted Argentina's economic crisiscould slash total 2002/03 crop production by as much as 10 million tonnesas farmers facing a credit crunch cut back on their use of technology.Early indications for soy, wheat, corn and sunseeds, which account foraround 90 percent of total crop output, suggest those predictions may havebeen too pessimistic.Though planted area for several crops is estimated to fall, governmentforecasts for planted area for the country's four main crops show areaplanted this season growing slightly to 24.08 million hectares from 23.8million hectares in 2001/02..The department left unchanged its forecast for corn plantings at 2.96million hectares, down from 3.05 million hectares in 2001/02.The government also maintained its estimate for wheat plantings thisseason at 6.15 million hectares, down from 7.1 million hectares last year.Argentina produced a record 69.6 million tonnes of grains and oilseedslast year.

SAO PAULO, Brazil, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Brazil's No. 3 soybean producerstate Rio Grande do Sul had planted 35 percent of its crop by Thursday,the state Agricultural Federation (Fecoagro/RS) said.Brazil's southernmost state is normally the last to plant and harvestin the world's second largest soy belt. Area planted to soy in the statethis season should grow 7.5 percent over last to 3.54 million hectares(8.75 million acres), said Fecoagro/RS in a statement."With El Nino, good yields are expected for soy and equally for corn,given the amount of precipitation expected during the growing season,"said federation crop engineer Valdir Bisotto.El Nino -- a global climatic anomaly associated with the warming ofsurface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Peru --typically causes heavy rains in Brazil's south from October throughDecember. The phenomena is believed to be responsible for the disruptionof world weather patterns, causing droughts and floods.Rio Grande do Sul accounts for about 17 percent of Brazil's soy output,which should reach a record 48 million to 50 million tonnes this season.Brazil's national planting had been estimated by analysts at around 50percent last Friday.Brazil is the world's No. 2 soy producer and exporter after the UnitedStates and accounts for about 24 percent of global soy supply.

HONG KONG, Nov 19 (Reuters) - China is looking to buy at least another 10U.S. soy cargoes for shipment early next year, with logistic problemshampering delivery of domestic oilseed from the north, traders said on Tuesday.

BEIJING, Nov 21 (Reuters) - The following table shows importand export figures for soybean oil, rapeseed oil and palm oilfrom major Chinese customs offices as well as the countries oforigin and destination in the first 10 months of 2002.Details were provided by the General Administration ofCustoms of China. Figures are in tonnes.IMPORTS OCTOBER JAN-OCT JAN-OCT YR/YRPERCENTAGE CHANGE---- SOYOIL 100,939 453,079 + 761.4ORIGINBrazil 30,935 148,694 + 9,596.3Argentina 69,979 274,153 + 616.0Malaysia 2 8,115 +5,004.2CUSTOMSNanjing 48,752 117,128 n.aShenzhen 12,795 49,276 +825.1Tianjin 10,050 143,021 + 2,484.6Huangpu 6,750 18,517 +157.1Nanning 8,890 25,880 n.a

AMSTERDAM, Nov 21 (Reuters) - The price gap between rape oil and soy oilis expected to widen further in coming months due to a shortage ofrapeseed and demand by European consumers who are thinly covered for nextyear, traders said."The tightness is expected to last until mid-next-year. The crop is notso good and demand is strong," a Dutch trader said.The premium for rape over soy oil has jumped to 86 euros on theMay/July contract from 74 last week, while it has hovered around 45-50euros recently on the February/April position.Although the rapeseed crop is still seen rising in Europe this season,estimates have been slashed for the worldwide crop and other countrieshave been tapping the European market to make up for shortfalls elsewhere.Industry newsletter Oil World recently forecast that European rapeseedoutput would rise to 9.26 million tonnes this season from 8.87 million,but total global supplies were seen falling to 31.57 million tonnes from36.43 million, hit by bad harvests in Australia and Canada.Higher exports mean that EU rapeseed stocks will fall to a four-yearlow and lead to a reduction of EU rape crushing this season, Oil Worldadded.Reports have circulated that European rapeseed was recently exported toPakistan or India at the same time as some European farmers were sittingon supplies waiting for higher prices."Crushers are struggling to find rapeseed as most rapeseed sellers werenot willing to part from their material in the hope the tightness couldproduce even higher prices for the seed," one broker said.

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Palm oil prices are expected to comeunder pressure as the main producers, Malaysia and Indonesia, brace for afall in exports in November compared with October, traders said onTuesday.Although export usually decline between November and October, traderssaid Malaysian benchmark futures prices were vulnerable since they werecoming off 43-month highs.However, prices were also getting close to levels where buying supportwould kick in, they said.Traders said they expected a decline in demand from key importcountries, which are harvesting their own oilseed crops."China will get soybean, India will get the oilseed crop and Pakistanwill harvest cotton seed. That's why everybody is waiting for prices tocome down," one Kuala Lumpur dealer said.November palm oil exports from Malaysia, the world's largest producer,were likely to be 900,000 to 950,000 tonnes, down from 1.12 million tonnesin October, traders said.Indonesia was projected to export 600,000 tonnes of edible oils, whichinclude palm and coconut oil, in November compared with 717,721 tonnes inOctober, they said.Even though palm oil is nearly $140 cheaper than soyoil, many tradersfelt Malaysian crude palm oil prices needed to come down further to sparkfresh buying interest.Third-month Malaysian crude palm oil futures traded at a 43-month highof 1,607 ringgit a tonne last week, but by midday on Tuesday were down 16ringgit on the day at 1,556 ringgit ($409.47).But traders said they expected buyers to buoy the price around 1,500ringgit."It needs a correction so that prices can move to certain levels. Then,there will be demand. I think the market will test the 1,550 ringgitcrucial support today," the Kuala Lumpur dealer said."I think the world market is taking a rest. Demand will be lessfollowing two months of robust exports from Malaysia and Indonesia, whichmeans a lot of supply to the world market," he said.Freight brokers said confirmed freight bookings to India, the world'slargest edible oil consumer, had reached 320,000 to 350,000 tonnes so farfor November. They said they did not expect any addition fixtures.India, which normally buys up to 450,000 tonnes of palm oil a monthfrom Malaysia and Indonesia, imports roughly half of its annualrequirements for edible oils of around 10 million tonnes. It also buyssoyoil from Argentina and Brazil."India is taking a step back and I am not sure what it's going to donext month. But I think China will buy more palm oil in December and maytake around 150,000 tonnes," a Kuala Lumpur broker said."China still has around 150,000-180,000 tonnes left from this year'spalm oil import quotas," he said.China purchased 192,934 tonnes of palm oil from Malaysia in October.Confirmed shipment bookings to China from Malaysia and Indonesia havereached around 110,000 tonnes for November, said brokers.In Indonesia, traders said there was enough domestic supply to meetdemand during the Ramadan Muslim fasting month, when demand for cookingoil normally rises."Local supply is okay. But we still have trouble finding foreign buyerslately even though our prices are $5 to $10 cheaper than Malaysianprices," said one Jakarta trader.(US$1 = 3.8 ringgit)

19/11/2002 (Business Times) - CONSTRUCTION of the first three of 26biomass-based power plants in Malaysia will start soon.Malaysia Energy Centre (MEC) chief executive officer Dr Hassan Ibrahimsaid civil engineering works for three small power producers (SPPs) willbegin anytime now.

WASHINGTON, Nov 5 (Reuters) - The U.S. Agriculture Department's attache inJakarta released the following report, dated October 31, on the palm oiloutlook for Indonesia.