Archived News

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.

PALM oil companies have stopped supplying the Government with discountedcrude palm oil (CPO) to burn as fuel for electricity generation under aprogramme introduced when the commodity's price was at a record low.

KUALA LUMPUR - Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawiyesterday directed Felda to make the most of the country’s biodiversity tocreate new wealth generating opportunities for settlers of existing landschemes and new ones to be opened.He said the government had already discussed a report on how Felda couldapply new farming technologies when opening new land schemes.“It is not our intention to do away with rubber and oil palm estates whichhave been the impetus of our economic development.“But we are convinced that Felda can be directed towards that end bymaking the most of the abundant biodiversity and applying latestdiscoveries in farming technologies,” he said in addressing 1,600 Feldastaff during his visit to the agency’s headquarters here.For instance, he said, a recent discovery that oil palm trunks can beturned into timber planks should motivate Felda to become the supplier ofsuch raw material when felling old oil palm trees for replanting.The agency could also capitalise on the latest discovery that land schemematerials presently gone to waste could be recycled as pharmaceutical andcosmetic by products for enrichment of the settlers, he said.Abdullah said the new vision for national agriculture was to injectdynamism in farming activities that should go beyond the mere opening ofrubber and oil palm estates and bringing in settlers there.Felda need not stick to such old approaches but instead concentrate onapplying new ones, he said.It could get the existing settler community to be involved through equityownership and as workers in modernising rural areas and elevating villageliving standards, he said.“The farming sector has immense potentials but tapping them should bebeyond planting oil palm for palm oil only,” he said.Abdullah said he was convinced that efforts to tap these potentials wouldeventually lead to a better quality of life for Felda settlers.“As such the possibility of the new generation of Felda settlers becomingpioneers of urbanisation in the 21 century simply cannot be ruled out,” headded. —– BernamaFriday, August 31, 2001The Star

DESPITE the food sector playing a bigger role in the economy, our foodimport bill remains woefully high.

U.S. (MicroPatents) 8/30/2001- Oils containing a triacylglycerol polyolester and a non-glycerol polyol ester are described, as well as methods ofmaking such oils. Methods for improving lubrication properties of avegetable oil also are described.A method for improving lubrication properties of a vegetable oilcomprising transesterifying said vegetable oil with a short chain fattyacid ester, wherein said short chain fatty acid ester is a polyol ester.

Beijing (BBC Monitoring International Reports) 08/29/2001 –China'sMinistry of Agriculture said China's import of farm produce has increasedwhile its export dropped during the first half of this year, a nationalnewspaper reported Wednesday.Farm produce import rose by 8.8 per cent over the same period of last yearwhile export was down by 0.09 per cent, according to the Beijing-basedEconomic Daily.Overall foreign trade in farm produce rose by 3.5 per cent while the ratioof its foreign trade volume to the country's total decreased by 0.04percentage points to 5.4 per cent, said the newspaper.Based on customs data, the ministry was quoted as saying that import ofsoybean, rice, corn and barley surged while export of wheat increased.China imported 5.972m tons of soybean during the period, up 69 per centover the same period of last year, mostly from the United States, Braziland Argentina.China's cotton import jumped by 70 per cent while export fell by 78 percent.Sugar import rose by 130 per cent while export dropped by 72 per cent.China's agricultural export to Asia went down by 2.3 per cent and exportto Europe increased by 13 per cent.Japan, Hong Kong, the Republic of Korea, and the United States were thelargest markets for Chinese farm producing, accounting for 36 per cent, 12per cent, 10 per cent and 7 per cent of China's total export.Import from United States, Australia and Canada jumped by 30 per cent, 11per cent and eight per cent respectively.The ministry blamed the slow-down of the world economy, surplus of farmproduce on the international market, and trade protectionism in Japan andthe Republic of Korea to China's negative growth in farm produce.Source: Xinhua news agency, Beijing, in English 0330 gmt 29 Aug 01

(adds reaction, details)

DAVAO CITY, PHILIPPINES(BusinessWorld) 8/30/2001 - Offers made by thePresident for Malaysian investors to develop areas of Mindanao into oilpalm plantations should be pursued with caution, a leading agribusinessexecutive said.Luis Lorenzo, Jr. of Lapanday Holdings said the government should attractinvestments in the context of national interest and in a strategic manner.He cited the case of the coconut industry, which he said, employs fourmillion farmers in the country's rural areas."The President's initiative forms a significant part of the government'soverall effort to create a million jobs in the countryside. But it has tobe emphasized that the President's effort in attracting investments inpalm oil, is being pursued with caution and consideration because of ourcoconut sector... It generates dollars for us."Mr. Lorenzo was part of the President's party that visited Malaysiarecently. During the visit, the President called on investors to helpMindanao develop a palm oil industry. A study done by Malaysian experts inthe mid-'90s indicated there are at least 300,000 hectares of land on theisland highly suitable for oil palm plantation.He said oil palm would never replace the coconut trees in the countryside."Our coconut will therefore continue to enjoy the support it deserves interms of research, production and marketing. Palm oil shall be a meresupplement to our country's need for edible oil. We will produce it tosimply close our trade gap in edible oil."

SHENZHEN, 30/8/01 (AsiaPort) - Chinese vegetable oil processors areconsidering replacing soybeans with canola as a source of oil while theywait for the government to release rules governing genetically modifiedorganisms (GMO)."We might shift part of our raw materials to canola if the governmentintroduces severe restrictions on GMO imports," an official with aShenzhen-based processor said.American Soybean Association President Bart Ruth said the new rules hadlimited the raw materials available to China's vegetable oil processors.He warned that severe restrictions on GMO imports could force many Chineseprocessors to close.The president said although China's Chief Trade Negotiator Long Yongtupromised a grace period for trade, uncertainties made Chinese tradersreluctant to buy soybeans on the international market.Long said last Wednesday in Beijing that China would allow a transitionperiod before the GMO rules were introduced.The gradual implementation of the new rules should not be a hindrance totrade, Long said."We have to take some time to lay out the detailed implementation rules.Until then, we are going to make sure this law will not become a hurdle totrade," said Long, who is also vice-minister of the Ministry of ForeignTrade and Economic Co-operation.China announced the GMO rules on June 6, but fell short of issuing detailsof their implementation. This has frustrated many traders at home andabroad, especially those involved in soybeans, which China activelyimports.Chinese analysts said with the grace period and delayed release ofdetailed implementation rules, they expected the new rules to have alimited influence on the grain market."The new rules could slow down China's soybean import growth, but theextent should be limited," said Du Jing, an analyst with Beijing CapitalFutures Co Ltd.When the new rules were announced in June, soybean prices on the Chinesefutures market soared in contrast with tumbling prices in the UnitedStates.But the prices have slowly fallen as domestic supplies pile up, said Du.Prices were expected to receive a boost with the release of detailedrules.But traders doubt whether the government will adopt severe restrictions onsoybean imports if it damages the domestic vegetable oil processingindustry, Du said.The majority of Chinese processors, especially those in South China,favour imported soybeans due to their high content of oil and low price.China's new rules require government approval for all production, sale andimportation of GMO foods.They require safety certificates stating that the products are not harmfulto humans, animals or the environment, and appropriate labelling.Traders fear that once the rules are implemented, cargoes in shipment mayhave difficulty passing the stricter quarantine provisions.In June, soybean imports from the United States plunged to 153,000 tonsfrom 1.06 million tons in May, according to customs statistics.According to the US Department of Agriculture, 68 per cent of US soybeancrops are genetically modified.Imports were brisk before the rules were announced. China takes 20 percent of US soybean exports.In the first six months of 2001, China's soybean imports rose 69.2 percent year-on-year to 5.97 million tons, of which nearly 75 per cent camefrom the United States.Ruth said although the new rules were of high concern to US soybeanfarmers and traders, they had no official plans to discuss the issue withChinese officials at present, believing that China needs itsprice-competitive soybeans.Chinese processors do not want to have to pay a premium for non-GMOsoybeans while the world market is filled with cheap genetically modifiedones, Ruth said.

A lack of fresh fundamentals in the crude palm oil (CPO) market havepushed prices of palm oil down during the past week but traders insistthat the decline was merely a major correction.