Archived News

Financial Times, London,12/20/2001 : Prices of some soft commodities areabout to take off, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). TheLondon-based research unit predicts double-digit increases in the price ofgrains and oilseeds next year and in 2003.

Kuala Lumpur (Reuters)12/18/2001 - Palm oil may get a boost as globalsunflower seed shortage tightens the edible oils complex, Asian traderssaid today.

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14 (Bernama) -- The World Wide Fund for Nature Malaysia(WWF Malaysia) Friday expressed its full support to Primary IndustriesMinister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik's call to the oil palm industry toadopt more stringent and sustainable practices in developing newplantations.

CHENNAI, INDIA (Business Line) Dec. 14. - MIXED cropping, increasingproductivity, on-farm processing, value added products diversification andmarketing are key to survival of coconut farmers and processors in thecompetitive environment, according to Dr P. Rethinam, Chairman, CoconutDevelopment Board (CBD) and Executive Director Designate, Asian andPacific Coconut Community, Jakarta.

NEW DELHI, Dec 13 (Bernama) -- India's edible oil industry is to explorethe possibilities of collaboration with Malaysian Palm Oil PromotionCouncil (MPOPC) in the field of technology transfer and joint ventures inpalm cultivation and processing.

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 24 (Bernama) -- As the world's largest producer of palmoil, Malaysia has the potential to export more crude palm olein to India,said the immediate past president of the Solvent Extractors Association ofIndia (SEA) Sandeep Bajoria.

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 11 - Our final estimate on CPO production shows anupward revision of 10,000 tonnes to 1.045 million tonnes. This representsa month-on-month decline of 95,000 tonnes or 8.4 percent. The upwardrevision reflected a much smaller than expected decline of around twopercent or less than 10,000 tonnes in East Malaysia. This compares with anestimated decline fo 12.5 percent in Peninsular Malaysia.Additionally, the oil extraction rate (OER) was somewhat better. Thiswas most evident in Sabah. Total production for the first 11 monthsamounted to 10.83 million tonnes. There is a fairly good chance the wholeof this year's output will reach 11.7 million tonnes. This would be860,000 tonnes or 7.9 percent higher than last year.Reflecting the upward revision in production, the final estimate onend-November stocks of palm oil is revised to 1.31 million tonnes. This is30,000 tonnes lower than a month earlier. This level of stocks is deemedmanageable, particularly as it marks the reversal of a rising trend with asubstantial drawdown expected at the end of this month. In contrast and inline with our projections, stocks of PKO maintained their uptrend andreached an all-time new record high of an estimated 370,000 tonnes or some15,000 tonnes more than October.Stocks had built up to this burdensome level following anunprecedented period of accumulation starting from March last year whenstocks amounted to 107,900 tonnes. We view the PKO stocks situation asworrysome although it may not be a matter of great concern to PK producersand crushers in terms of absolute prices and margins. It cannot be deniedthat anaemic export performance was the main cause of the stocks buildup.PKO exports in September-October fell to 82,500 tonnes from 111,000tonnes a year ago. This is not surprising given that domestic offtake ofPKO has reached saturation level. Offtake by the oleochemical sector inJanuary-September amounted to 606,000 tonnes or unchanged from the sameperiod last year. In the local market PKO price had been traded atincreasing discount to CPO - from an average of 10-23 ringgit in Octoberto 30-45 ringgit in November and 75 ringgit last week. Production of PKdropped 11 percent to around 288,000 tonnes in November.CPO futures price meanwhile displayed a whip-saw pattern in the pastthree weeks. The February contract gained 85 ringgit in the week endedNovember 23 but lost practically all of it the following week. Last weekit rebounded 72 ringgit to settle at 1,169 ringgit after posting anintraday high of ,1200 ringgit on Friday. The gains would have been muchmore had the market not reacted bearishly to India's raising of the tariffvalues on palm oil on Friday afternoon.The December 7 announcement of new tariff values came eight days afteran official from the Finance Ministry denied to a wire service thatchanges were forth coming. Speculation and rumours of a revision were notunexpected considering the last revision on October 9 was made somenine-and-the-half weeks after the introduction of tariff values on palmoil on August 3.The latest values (previous in brackets) in US$/MT are: CPO 314 (286),RBDPO 341 (295), RBD OLN 349 (307) and Crude OLN 334 (298). As we had saidpreviously, Indian authorities shoud avoid generating market uncertaintiesand confusion. It is left to be seen whether the Central Board of Exiseand Customs has settled down to reviewing and revising tariff values on afixed periodic basis. The market is also keen to know the base period usedin determining the values. Perhaps it is too much to expect tranparencyand good governance. The latest tariff values raise the import dutiespayable by $18.20 (for CPO) to $42.50 (for RBD PO).

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 11 (Reuters) - China will use up all its palm oil quotain 2001 to make way for huge imports next year following its entry to theWorld Trade Organisation (WTO), traders said on Tuesday.The world's most populous nation is set to import 2.4 million tonnes ofpalm oil in 2002, up from this year's 1.4 million tonnes, as requiredunder the terms of joining the WTO.China, which formally entered the world body on Tuesday, buys palm oilmainly from Malaysia and Indonesia, the world's largest producers."There is nothing much left on the quota. I last heard some 30,000-40,000tonnes were still available," said one trader in Kuala Lumpur.Some traders say China holds the trump card as to whether Malaysia's crudepalm oil futures

GENEVA, Dec 6 (AFP) - The United States called Thursday for the speedyabolition of agricultural export subsidies but acknowledged that not allits trading parters are as eager as it to get rid of them.US negotiator James Grueff, addressing a press briefing here, recalledthat the World Trade Organization at a ministerial conference in Qatarlast month backed negotiations on the abolition of export subsidies.The conference was held in the Qatari capital Doha to approve an agendafor a new round of multilateral negotiations aimed at lowering globaltrade barriers."It is very clear to us from the language (adopted in Doha) that ministerscommitted to phasing out, ending, terminating -- however you want to callit, the phrasing in the text is 'phasing out' -- export subsidies," Grueffsaid."As for precisely when that happens, that is obviously a matter fornegotiations. We would like to see that happen sooner rather than later,of course."Obviously ... not all our negotiating partners have that view, so thatwill be something left for negotiations," said Grueff, who is assistantdeputy administrator for international trade at the US Department ofAgriculture.The WTO meeting in the Qatari capital Doha came close to collapse in a rowpitting the United States and its allies in the Cairns Group ofagricultural exporters against the European Union.US demands for language in a final statement calling for the eventualelimination of export subsidies were vigrously opposed by EUrepresentatives, who insisted that such a text would interfere with theirown timetable to reform the farming sector.EU officials have also argued that some form of government assistance isnecessary to preserve rural economies and culture.The dispute was finally resolved with the addition of language committingthe WTO to wide-ranging talks on agriculture with no "prejudgement" oftheir outcome."It is our hope we can begin aggressive negotiations in March, pursuingour mandate from Doha," Grueff said."The United States continues to have very ambitious objectives for thesenegotiations."

(Correction on para 2 &3 on earlier news. BERNAMA have been informed torectify the mistake. Thank you to Dr. Ariffin on the comments. )

USA, (Soyatech)12/10/2001 - Reaching the consumer is the goal of everycommodity group. Results of a sunflower seed phytochemical analysis arepaying off in national media attention. The October issue of Fitnesshighlights the nutritional benefits of seeds to its health consciousreaders with a paragraph entitled 'Small Seeds, Big Results' and directsreaders to the NSA web site for more information. In a piece entitled"Scoop the Party Nuts" in the November issue of Mademoiselle, sunflowerseeds are included in the list as a 'nut' and the 'not so nutty' reasonfor eating them is that they contain phytochemicals that may improvememory and ability to concentrate. The November issue of a baking tradepublication entitled Baking Management featured an article on "Nuts andSeeds Add Special Extras to Bakery Foods" and specifically listed thebenefits of seeds as an ingredient to bakers. The demand for kernels hasbeen growing providing the 'producer choices' defined above.

Monday, December 10, 2001(The Star) - CRUDE palm oil futures prices on theMalaysian Derivatives Exchange (MDEX) turned volatile and trended in abullish fashion last week as speculative short positions holder scrambledaggressively to covering their positions when the market broke upward fromits downward trend.The firmer prices in both the cash crude palm oil and product marketsprompted fresh hedge-buying and short-term buying interests.The February futures advanced from a week’s low of RM1,125 to RM1,200 andfinished the week sharply higher at RM1,169, up RM74 per tonne frompreviously.Based on chart, the February futures ended the week bullish and formed achart triple-top formation. From a technical point of view, the Februaryfutures are expected to remain buoyant in the coming sessions.An immediate chart resistance is seen for this week at the RM1,180-RM1,190levels, and a successful vault above this triple-top resistance wouldtrigger off another aggressive wave of technical covering and set themarket on a bullish course.Measurement of the chart-breakout target suggests that the next upwardmomentum could take prices to the RM1,250-RM1,265 levels. Chart supportfor this week stands at the RM1,150-RM1,140 levels. Violation of thesesupports would signal an end to the bullish trend.Technically, the daily stochastics ended the week bearish and indicatedthat the market is toppish or top-heavy. The daily stochastics sell-signalwas triggered during Friday’s close. The oscillator per cent K closed theweek below the oscillator per cent D and settled higher at 73.24% and75.33% respectively.The 12-day exponentially smoothed average price-line (ESA-line) remainedin uptrend and ended the week sharply higher at RM1,145. Closing pricesabove the ESA-line on Friday showed that the market’s immediate cycle isstill bullish.The moving-average convergence/divergence (MACD) turned positive last weekand closed on a positive note. The MACD ended above the trigger-line andsettled higher at 32.94 and 32.60 points respectively.The Momentum Index (MI) penetrated the 100-point mark last week andindicated that a bullish cycle is in place. The MI closed the week higherat 102.30 points.