07/11/2007 (The Edge Daily), Kuala Lumpur - PPB Oil Palms Bhd, now merged with Wilmar International Ltd, will hand over 4,000 acres (1,600 hectares) of agriculture land already planted with oil palm in Sugut to the Sabah state government for a smallholder scheme.

A ceremony to mark the handover of the title for the smallholder scheme to Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman will be held on Nov 12.

“As a large plantation group, we are proud to have helped create instant oil palm smallholders to broaden the country’s pool of agriculture entrepreneurs,” said PPBOP managing director Khoo Eng Min in a statement yesterday.

“These budding agri-entrepreneurs of Beluran district will start their new careers with planted land parcels, each having oil palms that are already bearing fruit and generating immediate income.

“Given that the plots within the 4,000 acres are contiguous, the participants will enjoy economies of scale in transportation, collective harvesting and sharing of common facilities.”

He said the market potential for edible oils and fats remained extremely good, in tandem with increases in global population and the ability of palm oil to make its way into many more intermediary and end products.

Khoo said crude palm oil (CPO) futures prices had recently surged to a record high of over RM2,900 per tonne, driven by strong gains in soyabean oil and other oilseeds feeding the biofuel demand in Europe and the Americas.

He said the Malaysian Palm Oil Board expected CPO prices to continue trading above RM2,000 per tonne in the next two years.

Khoo added that the positive outlook augured well for the long term prospects of the beneficiaries of the smallholder scheme.