22/4/06 KUALA TERENGGANU (The Star) --  Kumpulan Guthrie Bhd has chosen to replant oil palm in areas totalling 220ha in three of its estates.

The company said in a statement the replanting programme, involving two estates in Selangor and one in Malacca, was expected to enhance the company's productivity and profile to another level in the future.

Guthrie said it would bode well for the company's objective to be a leading producer of crude palm oil in terms of size and lowest level of cost.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi planted the AAB1, a new high-yielding clonal oil palm at the Malaysian Unit Trust Week 2006 here.

The AAB1 is produced by Guthrie Biotech Laboratory Sdn Bhd in Port Dickson. It is currently undertaking efforts in biotechnology research and development in vitro propagation of oil palm through tissue culture. 

Guthrie Biotech has a well-established tissue culture with the capacity to produce 350,000 clonal palms per annum. This is sufficient to cover 65% of the group's annual replanting programme.