Berita Arkib

05/04/2008 (Kuensel Online) - Business for country’s most lucrative industry, palm oil, hit the wall on March 31 when the government of India scrapped all import duties on crude edible oil as a measure to control inflation and rising food prices in India.

05/04/2008 (Khaleej Times Online), Jakarta - Once a golden promise in the fight against climate change, biofuels are fast losing their lustre as high demand for essential crops drives land clearing and pushes up the price of food.

07/04/2008 (The Navhind Times) - Inflation seems to have raised its ugly head again. Unlike in the recent past, this time the price rise is not attributable to only food items or any specific sector; rather, it is more wide spread across commodities and industries and therefore the challenge is greater.In fact, non-food items have contributed in greater measure to rising prices. Now, it is almost certain that it will adversely impact the high GDP growth rate of 9 per cent. The wholesale price index (WPI) has already touched 7 per cent the highest in three years, and has posed, perhaps the biggest threat to the government. With elections to the Lok Sabha just a year away, the government at the Centre is trying all that it can to arrest the rising trend.

04/04/2008 (The Star Online), Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia’s exports grew at the fastest pace in 15 months in February as rising crude and palm oil exports countered declining electronics sales.

03/04/2008 (The Financial Express), Mumbai - Malaysia India POTS 2008, the 1st International trade fair and seminar on palm oil and conversion industry in India, will be organised by Malaysia Palm Oil Council (MPOC) on May 29 and 30, 2008 in Mumbai.

03/04/2008 (The Hindu Business Line), Mumbai - The big bio-fuel boom may not be coming to an end anytime soon; but artificially jacked up market prices of vegetable oils — unrelated to real demand — are in for a sharp correction. No doubt, there has been a near-collapse of soyabean oil and palm oil prices in the last few days; but it was the just removal of speculative froth.

03/04/2008 (The Edge Daily), Kuala Lumpur - Sime Darby Bhd is planning to invest over €34 million (RM169.03 million) in its current Unimills BV’s facilities Zwijndrecht, The Netherlands and other locations in Europe to further strengthen its position in the oils and fats downstream business in the continent.

03/04/2008 (Finance Asia) - Current high food prices are not the result of demand for biofuel, said Dato’ Yeo How, group executive director at IOI Corporation, addressing a Green Wave panel on the competing demands for agricultural land. Dato’ Yeo believes the higher prices are the result of consumption growth in the developing world and the disruption to crop yields caused by changing weather patterns. He also pointed out that already scarce farmland is being absorbed by urbanisation. “Capacity is not keeping pace with a consistent growth in consumption,” he said.

02/04/2008 (Cleanteach) - The program will evaluate the technical and environmental performance of the biofuel in combustion turbine applications.

01/04/2008 (The Economic Times), New Delhi - The Cabinet Committee on Prices (CCP) met here on Monday to consider a plethora of fiscal, monetary and supply-side measures to control the runaway inflation, which touched a record 6.68% for the week ended March 15. The CCP meeting comes against a background of record inflation, high import prices of key food items and intense worry over adverse political impact.

31/03/2008 (The Hindu), New Delhi - The Government has abolished import duty on soya oil and palm oil, as part of efforts to contain runaway inflation that has risen to a 13-month high of 6.68 per cent.

31/03/2008 (Hindustan Times) - Stung by the persistent rise in prices, the government is considering duty cuts in essential commodities. Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said on Monday that fresh import duty cuts on a few items were in the offing. “We are looking at further cuts. There is an increase in international oil prices and it has to be met with import duty calibration, which we are considering,” Nath said.