28/03/2013 (Bernama) - A portion of the RM10.4 billion proceeds from the listing of Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV) will be used to expand the markets in Indonesia and perhaps Myanmar and Cambodia.

Felda Global Ventures Plantations (M) Sdn Bhd (FGVPM) senior vice president and head of plantations, Malaysia, Ismail Hassan, said with the company's 14,000 hectares of plantation land in Kalimantan, it would not be economical to build a new palm oil mill.

"We have to expand the hectarage in order to build the mill that will be commercially viable," he told reporters at the FGVPM's tithe payment ceremony, totalling RM10 million to seven states, here today.

Ismail said in the plantation business, one has to think of volume.

"If it is not too economical, then the equation of logistics has to come in. If it is high the cost can kill us," he said, adding that sourcing for land within Malaysia was difficult now.

"In Sabah and Sarawak, the land is deep peat, while we need at least shallow peat conditions for planting," he said.

He said FGV produced 3.3 million tonnes of crude palm oil annually and it has to maintain it or increase the volume.

"FGV currently operates approximately 350,000ha of oil palm plantation estates in Malaysia that produced 5.2 million metric tonnes of fresh fruit bunches in 2011," he said.