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KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 1 (Bernama) -- The local palm oil industry is poised togain significantly by way of increased exports following the decision bythe Indian government to lower import duty on crude palm oil (CPO).

Monday, November 5, 2001(The Star) - AS at the end of August this year,Malaysia produced 7. 04 million tonnes of palm oil, which represented a10%, increase over the same period last year.Malaysia is now facing the last quarter of the year where high monthlyproduction level is the norm. It is obvious that this year’s productionwill be more than last year’s. Nevertheless, the earlier forecast by somequarters that this year’s production may reach 11.8 million to 12 milliontonnes is inaccurate.Based on recent developments, this year’s production is forecast to bearound 11.2 million tonnes, an increase of about 0.4 million tonnescompared to last year.Taking into account the beginning stock and domestic demand, it has beenestimated that for the whole of this year, we have some 11.5 milliontonnes of palm oil for export. Thus, the country has to do better thisyear if she does not want to be saddled with high stocks again.For the first eight months of this year, Malaysia’s exports have beenquite spectacular when compared on a year-to-year basis. Based onpreliminary figures, the growth of exports during the eight months of thisyear has reached almost 30%, bringing the exports to 7.09 million tonnes.Hopefully, the country’s export for the rest of the year will be betterthan last year.The impressive export performance in the first eight months has resultedin a drop in stocks to 878,300 tonnes as at end-August from 921,700 tonnesat the end of July. This is a huge reduction from the stock level of 1.42million tonnes as at end December 2000 or 1.52 million tonnes as at endJanuary 2001.As for Indonesia, the world’s second largest producer and exporter of palmoil, the production estimates for 2001 are mixed.At the low end, some say Indonesia may produce 7.6 million tonnes thisyear. But others predict Indonesia’s production to even reach eightmillion tonnes. This means that for this year, Indonesia will have between5.2 and 5.5 million tonnes of palm oil for export.Primary Industries Minister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik said he was toldthat for the first half of 2001, Indonesia’s exports touched 1.95 milliontonnes, which was only a 15.9% increase compared with the same period lastyear.Malaysia’s exports grew by 30%, which means our export is higher. Maybethe changes in India’s duty structure have to some extent affectedIndonesia’s export performance. India, beginning March this year, hasincreased the import duty on CPO and PPO (processed palm oil), whilemaintaining the duty on soybean oil, thus making soybean oil morecompetitive.Since 40% of Indonesia’s palm oil export to India was CPO, compared to 22%of Malaysia’s, Indonesia is more adversely affected than Malaysia.The developments in other oil crops: The US Department of Agriculture(USDA) report of Sept 14, 2001 indicates soybean production in the US inthe coming season is estimated to be higher by three per cent or 77.1million tonnes compared to 74.8 million tonnes last year.This represents a decline over USDA’s earlier estimates. Apparently, theweather conditions during planting have not been favourable. This was thereason for an upturn in world oil and fats prices in early July.The production of both rapeseed and sunflower are also anticipated to fallin the coming season. The Canadian rapeseed crop is forecast to decline by28.7% or 5.07 million tonnes from 7.12 million tonnes, while the Australiacrop will be down by as much as 15.8% or 1.43 million tonnes from 1.7million tonnes last year.Sunflower production in Russia and the Ukraine is also expected to fall by12% (i.e. 3.3 million tonnes versus 3.75 million tonnes in 2000) and 26.5%(i.e. 2.55 million tonnes versus 3.47 million tonnes in 2000)respectively. Soybean harvest in both Argentina and Brazil is high at 26.5million and 38.2 million tonnes respectively.

U.S. Patents. 11/2/2001. Abstract: This invention relates to a method ofrefining a crude vegetable oil by removing insoluble material from the oilto provide a substantially clarified oil. The process comprises coolingthe vegetable oil and maintaining the vegetable oil at the desired lowtemperature. The vegetable oil is then heated to provide an amount of asubstantially clarified oil that can be separated from the insolublematerial. The process is useful for a wide variety of oils includingsoybean oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, corn oil, sesame oil, rapeseedoil, linseed oil, cottonseed oil, rice bran oil, perilla oil, castor oil,olive oil, tsubaki oil, coconut oil, palm oil, hemp seed oil, tung oil,kapok oil, tea seed oil.Ex Claim Text: A process for purifying vegetable oil, said processcomprising: maintaining the vegetable oil at a temperature below about10.degree. C.; heating the vegetable oil to a temperature sufficient toprovide an amount of substantially clarified oil; and drawing off theclarified vegetable oil.Patent Number: 6307077Issue Date: 2001 10 23If you would like to purchase a copy of this patent, please callMicroPatent at 800-648-6787.Inventor(s): Quear, Robert Michael

SABI Brazil, Oct 30, 2001 (Valor Economico/SABI via COMTEX) -- TheBrazilian soy crop next year may be not only one of the largest, but alsothe earliest. By the third week of October, the area already planted withsoy equalled 11% of the total intended for this crop. This compares with4% at the same time last year. A rainy spell in September helped withearlier planting and if favorable weather persists, the planting could befinished two or three weeks earlier this year. An early planting andharvest can bring a double benefit to the producer, who will have the cropready for sale earlier, when there is more demand in the market and whowill be ready sooner for the corn planting. Negotiations related to thesale of the harvest in January are beginning to take place in some areasof the country, with prices of between R$20 and R$25.

Gua Musang, 3 November,2001 (Berita Harian) – Peneroka rancangan tanahLembaga Kemajuan Kelantan Selatan (Kesedar) akan kehilangan puncapendapatan jika mereka terus enggan menyerahkan ladang getah dan kelapasawit mereka yang sudah tua untuk ditanam semula.

02 November 2001 (Business Times) - MALAYSIA’S crude palm oil (CPO) pricesare expected to stay firm between RM900 and RM1,000 a tonne next week onthe back of strong fundamentals.Analysts said expected overseas demand in the near future, especially fromChina, plus the recent cut in India’s import duty on CPO are all good newsthat should boost the commodity’s market sentiment.They said the upside potential for CPO price, however, is likely to belimited in the near term on anticipation that the palm oil closing stockfor October will increase slightly compared with that of the previousmonth.Despite some disruptions in palm oil shipments to Pakistan and West Asiadue to the war in Afghanistan, market watchers view the delays as atemporary setback as demand from these countries are expected to bounceback once the situation in the region improves.Malaysia’s physical CPO closed RM15 higher yesterday at RM960 per tonnefor November (South) from RM945 per tonne the day before.On the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange (MDEX), the benchmark third monthJanuary CPO futures ended RM16 firmer at RM1,006 a tonne from RM990 atonne previously.The price increases were mainly due to news that India has, on Wednesday,slashed its import duty on CPO by 10 per cent to 65 per cent.“The reduction in India’s import duty on CPO was not expected by many...that was why the market reacted positively to it,” a plantation analystwith a foreign research house told Business Times.However, palm oil traders said the reduction in import duty will benefitIndonesia more than Malaysia as the former exports more of its palm oil incrude form, while Malaysia mainly sells its palm oil abroad in refinedform.India has an 85 per cent levy on refined palm oil to help protect domesticrefiners.Nevertheless, the analyst said the tax cut is a reflection of the IndianGovernment’s commitment of making palm oil more affordable to the country’s consumers.“What is more important is that demand from India is still quite strong,”he said.Following the September 11 attacks, palm oil shipment costs have gone updue to war risk-related costs and the increase has to be borne by endusers.Reducing the import duty on CPO will ultimately result in buyers payingless for the commodity, he said.India was the largest buyer of Malaysia’s palm oil in the first sevenmonths of this year at 1.3 million tonnes during the period or 21 per centof the country’s total shipments.China is the second largest buyer at 695,000 tonnes, with Pakistan thirdat 672,000 tonnes.Another analyst said the tax cut on CPO will make the commodity morecompetitive against other edible oils, particularly soyabean oil.Although the situation in Afghanistan had caused palm oil stocks to go updue to delayed shipments to major buyer Pakistan and other West Asiannations, she was optimistic that the setback is only temporary.“On an overall basis, the demand for palm oil from these countries willhave to come back because palm oil is a needed good,” she said.

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures rallied againon Thursday, after pausing a day earlier, on news that India had cutimport duty on crude palm oil (CPO).The benchmark third month January futures shot past the 1,000 ringgit atonne barrier at the opening call, touching a high of 1,019 and settlingat 1,013 by the midday break. The contract had closed at 990 the previousday.Profit-takers had entered the market on Tuesday, ending a four-day bullrun spurred by strong exports for October.But news on Thursday that India cut the import duty on CPO to 65 percentfrom 75 chased up prices in Kuala Lumpur again.India is the biggest consumer of palm oil.New Delhi, which has increased duties four times in the past two years,introduced a cut for the first time despite continuous demand to protectits own oilseeds farmers.But some traders said the tax cut might be of more help to Indonesia,which is more aggressive in exporting CPO, than Malaysia, which prefers toship refined palm oil."The market is still digesting what this may mean to exports although ithas gone up for now," a dealer said.Prices of physical crude palm oil and refined products also rallied.The November contract for the southern region was bid/asked at 960/965ringgit a tonne and traded at the same levels. November central was heardat 955/960 ringgit and traded at 955.The December contract for both south and central was bid/asked at at985/995 ringgit, with no business reported.Among refined products, November RBD palm oil was offered at $275 a tonne,December at $285 and January/February/March at 297.50.November RBD olein saw offers for $282.50, December at $292.50 andJanuary/February/March at $305.November and December RBD palm stearin was offered at $245 a tonne andJanuary/February/March at $250.

KUALA LUMPUR, Thurs. 02 November 2001 (Business Times) - The palm oilindustry, facing the prospects of sending back 28,300 foreign workers andsustaining a RM1.05 billion loss by the end of next year, wants theGovernment to reconsider the ruling limiting temporary work permits tothree years.

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 31 (Bernama) --Primary Industries Minister, Datuk SeriDr Lim Keng Yaik will head an official four-day Malaysian visit toIndonesia from tomorrow (Nov. 1).Lim said in a statement the purpose of the visit was to discuss commodityissues as well as to further strengthen ties between Malaysia andIndonesia.The other members of the delegation are the ministry's secretary generaland two other officials.Dr Lim will take the opportunity to get to know better the new Ministerswhose responsibilities are related to matters pertaining to commodities inIndonesia under the helm of President Megawati.Other important issues include Malaysian investment activities inIndonesia particularly in the palm oil sector.In this connection, Lim said that he hoped to obtain government togovernment assistance through diplomatic channels on ways to solve currentissues faced by Malaysian investors in Indonesia.-- BERNAMA

Financial Post, October 26, 2001, TORONTO - Toronto Hydro-Electric SystemLtd. has launched a large-scale test of vegetable-based biodiesel fuel inits fleet of cars, trucks and vans as a first step to converting to 100%vegetable-based fuel. By using a mixture of vegetable oil and low-sulphurdiesel in its fleet, Hydro expects to improve air quality.

PUTRAJAYA ,Wednesday, October 31, 2001 (The Star) - Prime Minister DatukSeri Dr Mahathir Mohamad urged huge plantation companies to contributetowards increasing food production by integrating cattle rearing on theirland and varying their activities to include food commodities.The move, he said, would help reduce the country’s dependence on importedfood besides opening a new avenue for them to break away from thetraditional commodity of palm oil which was too susceptible to pricefluctuations.Agriculture Minister Datuk Effendi Norwawi said Dr Mahathir made the callwhen chairing the second meeting of the co-ordination council for thepublic and private sector in the agriculture sector.Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Effendi said the total acreage ofoil palm estates in the country stood at almost four million hectares andthey could easily support the rearing of at least a million head ofcattle.At the moment there are only about 100,000 head of cattle being reared insuch estates.Effendi said Malaysia had the potential of not only being self-sufficientin food but could also be a major food producer, provided there was aco-ordinated effort involving all related parties.“The main detriment to this is the scarcity of land. All mentris besarhave agreed to allocate land for agriculture, but the problem is that thespace is just not enough because most of the land have been taken up forhousing and township development projects.“That is why we need the co-operation of large plantation companies torealise this potential because they already have large tracts of landsuitable for mixed or integrated agricultural activities,” he said.He said large estates have the requirements to become large-scale foodproducers as they already have the land, sound human resource andfinancial management and good track records in research and development.“At the moment, our self-sufficiency in food production is only about 23%.If we do not consider large-scale production, the best we can hope toachieve within 10 years is to be 28% self-sufficient.“The ministry will be reorganised so as to be more investor-friendly toencourage more active participation of the private sector in theagriculture industry and to provide a strong support especially in newtechnology, marketing, funding and R & D.”

10/28/2001 (Business Recorder) - Pakistan and the US signed an agreementlast Saturday, for the supply of 60,000 tonnes of soybean oil worth over$30 million. The US supplies which are scheduled to commence in Januarynext year, will be sold by the government to the private sector inaccordance with the standard practice. It may be recalled that Pakistanwas given last year a donation of 75,000 tonnes of soybean oil and 165,000tonnes of soybean, worth $80 million.While 62,500 tonnes of the soybean oil is reported to have already arrivedin Pakistan by September, the first instalment of 165,000 tonnes ofsoybean was expected this month. It will thus be noted that the USsupplies could prove instrumental in averting a serious shortage of edibleoil in the country that was feared since July this year, as the situationwas further aggravated by the stalled shipments of palm oil from Malaysiawith the dislocation of shipping services to Pakistan, in anticipationanti-terrorism operations in the aftermath of the 11 September terroristattacks on the United States.The soybean and soybean oil gifts would benefit Pakistan in another way aswell. This has reference to the standard practice in such deals, unlikeunder the PL-480 Programme, allowing the government to freely use the saleproceeds in local currency for funding rural development and povertyalleviation programmes in accordance with the country's long-term socialand economic goals. The areas of such funding, including food security andpromotion of broad-based development, will mean a contribution also to theongoing challenging effort for economic restructuring of the country.Another significant feature of this programme is that as the cost ofshipment of the commodities is borne by the United States, it will meanlessening of pressure on the country's limited foreign exchange resourcestoo.It will thus be noted that there is a great deal more to the US commodityoffers than meets the eye. However, it may be noted that together with thequick restoration of palm oil supplies from Malaysia, the import of edibleoil from other sources, including United States, has proved of littleavail in ensuring the expected relief to the consumer from a cut in theprices of vanaspati and cooking oil. Not only the slash in prices hasremained elusive, but a great deal more has continued to add to the woesof the baffled consumer from the unabated price hike. This is a trend thathas come to stay in this country since prices once gone up seldomstabilise at lower levels. For, the remedial measures taking care of oneaspect of price rise are soon found negated by another problem or a set ofthem to keep prices perched at higher levels. The worst part of thisunwelcome tendency is painfully discernible in food items, hitting thelower income groups the most. Thus it invariably serves a sad reminder ofthe sorry state of agriculture that happens to be the predominating sectorof the economy. An idea of the predicament of this vital sector,development of which could have helped the country's economic growth, maybe had in the grim fact that Pakistan has become increasingly dependent onimports for a widening range of food items with the passage of time sinceindependence way back in 1947.In so far as edible oil is concerned, the dependence on its import hascome to affect oilseed too which the country can produce in enoughquantities not only to meet the domestic need but also to earn valuableforeign exchange from exports as well. And as repeatedly pointed out inthese columns, it should serve as a serious reminder of the need of anemergency plan to redouble efforts for boosting edible oil production inthe country from a serious thrust on correcting the situation in ascientifically planned manner. Trying to achieve self-reliance in edibleoil over the past several years, the effort can be seen as having provedcounter productive in a number of ways. This should beckon the governmentand the private sector to a bold new thrust to break the vicious circle ofshortages.