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MANILA, 9/11/2001 (Financial Times) - Philippine coconut oil exports aresoaring, but that is hardly cheering the south-east Asian nation's 3.4mcoconut farmers, who make up one-third of the agricultural labour force.Overseas sales of Philippine coconut oil rose 60 per cent to 916,546tonnes in the eight months to August, compared with the same period of theprevious year.This was the result of good weather in the country's main nut producingregions, according to a private industry group. The official August exportfigures will be published next month.Abundant rainfall and the absence of typhoons boosted the production ofcopra, the dried coconut meat from which oil is extracted, according toAnton Padua, a trader at San Miguel's Iligan coconut oil milling plant,the country's fifth largest.However, higher coconut oil exports have not translated into higherincomes for coconut farmers, as international prices have been dropping torecord lows.In fact, traders say that surging Philippine exports, along with recordinventories of Malaysian palm oil stocks, have helped to keep down worldcoconut oil prices.The average Philippine coconut oil export price fell to a 15-year low ofDollars 283 a tonne in March. It recovered to Dollars 353 in July, butthat is still about 11 per cent below last year's levels. Traders say thecommodity was recently traded at between Dollars 332.50 and Dollars 390 inthe European market.The Philippines is the world's leading exporter of coconut oil, accountingfor 64 per cent of international supply. It shipped more than 1.6m tonnesof coconut oil last year, more than double the previous year's level.The United Coconut Association of the Philippines, a group of coconutmillers, refiners and traders, forecast coconut oil exports would reach2.03m tonnes this year.Farmers, however, have yet to harvest their windfall. Lower coconut pricespushed down farmers' incomes by 42 per cent in the first half of 2001,even as nut production went up 3.1 per cent. Last year, coconut producers'incomes fell 37 per cent as coconut output rose by 14 per cent."They have to produce more just to earn the same level of income," saysLuz Lorenzo, chief economist at ATR Kim Eng Securities.The government wants to develop the domestic oleochemicals industry toreduce the coconut sector's excessive dependence on coconut oil exports.Coconut oil makes up more than 90 per cent of Philippine coconut-relatedoverseas sales, while fatty acids, methyl esters and fatty alcoholsaccount for only 2.3 per cent.

Kuala Lumpur, 17 September 2001 (Business Times) - The Government willinvite Russian officials to Kuala Lumpur to sign the palm oil credit andpayment arrangement between both countries if the deferred official visitby Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad to Moscow is cancelled.

Brazil, Sep 11, 2001 (Gazeta Mercantil/SABI via COMTEX) -- A study made bythe WTO about the trade policy of the United States favors the position ofBrazil in questioning the huge subsidies given by Washington to its soyproducers.

PM aims to renew ties after meeting Putin during APECDatuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad's trip to Russia this week is aimed atrenewing bilateral ties and not to finalise the purchase of fighterplanes.

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7 (Bernama) -- Malaysia has recorded a trade surplus ofRM4.2 billion in July this year compared with RM4.0 billion registered inJuly 2000.

NEW YORK, Sept 7 (Reuters) - El Nino, the notorious weather anomaly thatcan cause drought in one country and flooding in another, won't be intensethis time around.That's the prediction of the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) of the U.S.National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which on Fridaymaintained its forecast of a weak or moderate El Nino by late 2001 orearly 2002.The Center's Vernon Kousky said in a monthly update on the CPC websitethat the warming of sea surface temperatures (SSTs) "will continue in thecentral equatorial Pacific during the remainder of 2001 and into the firsthalf of 2002."He added, "The impacts that this warming will have on global temperatureand precipitation patterns depend to a large degree on its intensity."Kousky concluded, "At the moment, considering both the SST predictions andthe observed oceanic and atmospheric circulation patterns, it seems mostlikely that the intensity of the warming will be weak or moderate."The literal translation of El Nino is "boy child" in Spanish.For the anchovy fishermen of Latin America who first noticed thephenomenon in the 19th century, the weather anomaly was named after theChrist child because it was usually seen around Christmas, whichcelebrates the birth of Jesus Christ.El Nino is an abnormal warming of waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean, andits recurrence roughly every three years has wreaked devastation inweather patterns around the Pacific rim and can even affect hurricaneformation in the Atlantic ocean.The El Ninos of 1997 and 1983 struck with calamitous results, spawningwithering drought in Australia, the Philippines and Indonesia whilespawning rampant flooding in Peru and Ecuador.The 1983 El Nino was also blamed for floods in India and the drying out ofwater holes in South Africa.

KUMPULAN Guthrie Bhd's proposal to sell some of its land in Malaysia topay for recent acquisitions in Indonesia could help reduce the company'sgearing level, analysts say.

PAKISTAN has pledged to import at least 1 million tonnes of Malaysian palmoil a year.

PALM OIL FUTURES PALM OIL PHYSICALNov (3rd mth) 1061 Sep (south) 1065Open/High/Low 1038/1062/1033 Prev close 1050Prev settlement 1042 * sellers' quotePALM OIL FUTURES - Closed higher on suspected buying by somelocal refiners. Talks resurface India may reduce palm oil importduty due to good winter oilseed crop.PALM OIL PHYSICALS - Also higher.---------------------------------------------------------------KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futuresstrengthened at the close on the back of active buying by some localrefiners and talks that India may cut palm oil import duties, traderssaid."This looks like instigated buying," said one trader in Kuala Lumpur.Some refiners, he said, were intentionally buying at the futuresmarket in order to create an assumption that big buyers, such as India andChina, are coming back to the market."These gains are not backed by fundamentals. That's why if the Chicagomarket is down tonight, the local market will follow suit when itreopens," said the trader.The benchmark November futures contract ended up 19 ringgit at 1,061ringgit ($279.21) a tonne after trading as low as 1,033 ringgit. Volumewas at 1,598 lots.Some traders said talks resurfaced in the market that India may cutthe import duties on palm oil."I learn that three refiners are buying palm oil for sales to theIndian market. This leads to speculation that India could do somethingabout the duties," said another trader."I've rang my sources in India, but they couldn't come up withanything yet. But I am sure something is going to happen," he added.In February, the world's largest edible oil importer slapped itsheaviest-ever duty of 75 percent on crude palm oil and 85 percent onrefined palm oil.Indian traders expect this year's winter oilseeds crop output to riseto 12.5-13.0 million tonnes from 11 million tonnes in the previous year,which raised speculation that the government may cut the duties.At the physical side, September crude palm oil for southern andcentral regions were offered at 1,065 ringgit a tonne against bids at1,060. There were trades at 1,050 to 1,060 for both sides.Among refined products, September RBD palm oil was offered at $295.00a tonne, October $297.50 and November/December at $302.50.Offers for September RBD olein were at $310, October at $312.50 andNovember/December at $317.50.September RBD palm stearin was offered at $250 a tonne and October at252.50. September/October palm acid distillate was offered at $202.50.

MANILA: A Philippine-Malaysian joint venture firm plans to invest 355million pesos to build a palm oil mill in the central Philippine provinceof Bohol, documents submitted by the company to the Board of Investments(BoI) show.The company, Philippine Agriculture Land Development and Mill Inc, saidthe palm oil mill would produce 29,520 tonnes of crude palm oil and 5,760tonnes of palm kernel every year. The palm kernel will be furtherprocessed to extract palm kernel oil, it said.It added that by 2012, the mill should be producing at least 87% of itsintended capacity.The company will sell its output to the domestic market as well as torefineries in Europe, Malaysia, China and India.The BoI has granted the project a non-pioneer status, which will make iteligible for tax breaks such as exemption from payment of income taxes forfour years. – AFX

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 5 (Bernama) -- Plantations company, KL Kepong Bhd(KLK), is investing RM50 million to RM60 million in two palm oil mills inIndonesia.

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Palm oil freight rates from Malaysia andIndonesia, the world's top producers, are likely to slide further over thecoming months in the absence of fresh demand from major buyers, brokerssaid on Wednesday.In the past few weeks, freight rates from Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatrain Indonesia were flat at $24-$25 a tonne for the west coast of India andat $19-$20 for the east coast, suggesting the world's largest edible oilimporter was turning its back on palm oil.Rates to India were hovering at $26-$27 a tonne for the west coast and at$21-$22 for the east coast in June/July."Dozens of vessels are still looking for palm oil cargo in Pasir Gudangand other ports. It's been going on for a month," said one broker in KualaLumpur."Normally, we could see more than 10 ships leaving one particular port ina week. It doesn't happen anymore," he added.Peninsular Malaysia/Sumatra share similar freight rates.Brokers said freight rates to various destinations such as India,Pakistan, China and Europe were likely to fall by $1 a tonne in Septemberand the following months because there were almost no new contracts signedin August.Traders and brokers said at least 600,000 tonnes of edible oil, including300,000 tonnes of palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia, arrived in Indialast month. But the palm oil cargo comes from old contracts."It's a bad sign when freight rates don't change," said another broker.In Indonesia, the normally congested palm oil exports ports in Sumatrawere surprisingly quiet."I just got a call from someone who offered me some space. I was sosurprised because people always have to struggle to find vessels to shippalm oil from Indonesia," said a trader in Jakarta.Traders said India had turned to other edible oil, such as soyoil, sincethe government fixed base import prices of palm oil in August to preventunderinvoicing.India was Malaysia's main palm oil buyer in 2000, taking 2.03 milliontonnes and also a major buyer of Indonesian palm oil.India was seen buying 400,000 tonnes of palm oil in April, May and Juneeach, but the amount could fall to 200,000 tonnes in September or evenlower, they said.In August, India fixed the base import price of crude palm olein at $357 atonne. It means any importer will have to pay duty assessed on an importprice of $357 a tonne for the oil no matter what its purchase price.India had earlier fixed the base import price of crude palm oil at$337/tonne and RBD palm olein at $372 a tonne.Some traders speculated buyers in India shunned palm oil because of therecent rise in Malaysia's crude palm oil futures, which hit a 22-monthhigh at 1,315 ringgit ($346.05) (third-month basis) in August."Everybody knows that India's demand is going down, but nobody dares tosay how much it will be. I don't think Diwali will rescue us," said thesecond freight broker, referring to the Hindu festival of lights inNovember which normally boosts palm oil imports.Brokers said another big buyer, Pakistan, had bought plenty of palm oil inJuly/August and is unlikely to return to the market in September.They said freight rates from Peninsular Malaysia/Sumatra were flat at$23-$24 to Pakistan and at $46-$47 to Rotterdam. Freight rates stood at$25 for north China, $24 for central and at $20 for the southern part ofthe country.