Archived News

A RECESSION seems imminent with Malaysia’s GDP may shrink to a low of -2% in 2020 due to the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) warned.

The University of Kentucky Extension Grain Marketing Specialist, Dr. Todd Davis, prepared the following discussion concerning the current state of grain commodity prices given the interaction of COVID-19 and declining oil prices

China’s soybean imports haven’t been affected by the spread of COVID-19 globally and the soybean production is expected to increase in major soybean exporting countries, officials with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said at a briefing on Saturday.

Malaysian palm oil futures reversed early gains on Thursday, as heightened concerns over demand and forecasts of better production eclipsed worries that the coronavirus pandemic could choke off global supplies of the vegetable oil.

Agricultural and agri-commodities company FGV Holdings Bhd has developed an action plan to ensure that all of its practices relating to labour are fully in line with international labour standards.

ICE Canadian canola futures fell on Wednesday, pressured by weakness in soyabeans and a sinking stock market. Canola crush margins worsened and canola prices appear to have further downside, a trader said.

The palm oil industry hopes plantations and mills in six districts on the east coast will be allowed to resume operations while the timber sector faces millions in losses if no special permission is granted to export ready shipments during the current Movement Control Order (MCO) period.

Malaysian Estate Owners Association (MEOA) members said they could help contain the Covid-19 pandemic in oil palm plantations by resuming operations

Bio-diesel units in India are facing the heat of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak, as Asian and West Asian countries have stopped importing buffalo and goat meat, leading to a drop in animal tallow production, a key raw material of biodiesel

Singapore-listed vegetable oil company Wilmar International Ltd and plantation player Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd (KLK) have chimed in with their pleas to the Sabah government, asking the state to reconsider the closure of palm operations in six districts, saying the move has potential adverse socio-economic ramifications.

The Agriculture Ministry has come up with some strategies to boost Indonesia's exports of plantation commodities amid the COVID-19 pandemic and sought an alternative market for the exports.

The year before Indonesia had been the fourth largest buyer of Canadian wheat, taking almost 900,000 tonnes and Bogasari had signed a supply agreement with the Canadian Wheat Board to buy between one million and 1.5 million tonnes a year for the next five years