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22/08/05 KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama) -- Malaysian exporters should start toexplore new emerging markets such as Eastern Europe and Russia to exporttheir products, said Deputy International Trade and Industry MinisterDatuk Mah Siew Keong.He said among the sectors with potential to go into these markets wereelectric and electronic, automotive and palm oil."We should look at exporting our products or goods to other countries asMalaysian products have high quality," he told reporters at the NationalExport Conference 2005 here Monday.Mah said branding was an important marketing tool that Malaysian companiesshould look into so that their products were accepted globally.Branding, he added, helped to create a significant impact and provide acompetitive edge as well as to capture and sustain a sizeable marketshare."Malaysia needs to develop strong brands as well as original designs tobuild consumer loyalty and preferences for Malaysian products," he said,adding that brand image was a strong asset for a company.According to Mah, some of the prominent Malaysian brandnames were Bonia,Pensonic, Petronas, Lewre and Royal Selangor."Investments for branding and packaging as well as setting up goodsexhibitions overseas are investment for the future of the companies. Thisis important to bring their products globally," he said.Asked about Malaysia's trade performance, Mah said for the first half of2005, the country's total trade amounted to RM458.73 billion, an increaseof 10.7 percent from the first half of 2004.He said total exports amounted to RM253.30 billion, an increase of 12.2percent, while imports totalled RM205.43 billion, up by nine percent.Last year, Malaysia recorded its highest trade growth with RM880.8billion, an increase of 23.3 percent compared to RM717.4 billion in 2003.Mah said exports increased to RM480.7 billion, a rise of 20.8 percent, andimports totalled RM400.1 billion, up by 26.4 percent."This performance was largely due to the contribution of the manufacturingsector, accounting for 31.6 percent of GDP (gross domestic product) lastyear and factors such as strong demand from our trading partners, dynamicintra-Asean trade and successful efforts in sustaining the traditionalmarkets whilst diversifying into new and emerging markets," he said.Mah said Malaysian economy expanded by 7.1 percent last year, growingsteadily since 2000, adding that the expansion was a result of robustgrowth in global trade as well as domestic demand.He said Malaysia was now in the process of finalising the Third IndustrialMaster Plan and the Ninth Malaysia Plan for implementation early nextyear.

JAKARTA, Aug 22 (Reuters) - Indonesia will proceed with plans tosharply boost palm oil output over the next three years to quench thethirst of bio-fuel makers, despite opposition from environmental groups,the agriculture minister said on Monday.Anton Apriyantono added that Indonesia would aim to sharply cut sugarimports in 2006 following a bumper domestic sugarcane harvest. Jakarta isalso studying the benefits of growing genetically modified crops."We will consider incentives for the palm oil sector and of course theenvironment will be our priority," he told Reuters in an interview. "Wewill have to boost output. Not only do we expect increased demand for foodbut we also expect a huge market for bio-energy to open up."He did not specify what incentives the government was considering forthe sector.Apriyantono said Indonesia, the second-largest producer and exporter ofpalm oil, after Malaysia, would aim to boost the crop area under palmplantations to 8 million hectares in the next three years from the current5 million.Indonesia produced 12 million tonnes crude palm oil in 2004. Area underpalm oil in Indonesia has doubled since 1999.Plans by Indonesia to boost output come at a time whenenvironmentalists are blaming the latest forest fires, and the haze thatfollowed, on palm plantations. Critics say workers light the fires toclear land, an illegal practice they say has been largely overlooked bythe government.In addition, Indonesia is considering setting up the world's biggestpalm plantation -- covering an area of 1.8 million hectares -- inKalimantan, along the border with Malaysia.Bio-fuels are taking on renewed global importance as countries seek tocut hazardous emissions. Palm oil's emergence in the market comes decadesafter the introduction of ethanol, made from sugarcane, and otheradditives.

17/08/05 NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Soy oil suppliers are making an all outeffort to snatch a part of palm oil's market share in Asia but India'sproximity to palm oil suppliers and China's preference for soybeans willstand in the way.Traders and analysts said for India, the world's largest edible oilsimporter, a shorter distance to palm oil suppliers of Malaysia andIndonesia, compared with soft oil exporters in South America and theUnited States, in addition to lower prices, will more than offset arelatively lower import duty on soft oils.And in China, the preference to increasingly import soybeans to feedits huge crushing capacity is helping the world's second-largest importerof vegetable oils to generate enough soy oil of its own, leaving littlescope for importing soft oils.In India, palm oil has a 70-75 percent share out of nearly five milliontonnes of annual edible oil imports, leaving the remaining 25-30 percentto soft oil.The ratio of soy oil in the import basket in India has been growingbecause of lower duties on it, leaving Asian palm oil producers a worriedlot. But Indian traders say palm oil producers' fears of soy oil capturingthe market were unfounded."Palm oil will continue to be the king, irrespective of the prices orcustoms duties," said B.V. Mehta, executive director of the SolventExtractors' Association of India.Traders say palm oil is 10-15 percent cheaper than soy oil, wellaccepted by the Indian consumer as a cooking medium and is also preferredby industrial users. The landed cost of crude palm olein is around $430 atonne at Indian ports.In China, soy oil imports in the first seven months of 2005 fell by41.5 percent to 940,000 tonnes over the same year-ago period, while palmoil imports during the same period rose 30 percent to 1.6 million tonnes.A boom in soy crushing in China has been pushing down prices ofdomestically produced soy oil, making imports unattractive. And importersin China, like in India, also turn to buy palm oil in small cargoes tomeet immediate needs."This year was pretty good for palm oil because international soybeanprices were pretty expensive," said a market analyst with a Chinesecrusher. "But soy reserves are relatively high and are pressuring soy oilprices, especially because crushers have to keep their plants going forcash flow."

24/08/2005 KUCHING (The Star) - Sarawak plans to increase its acreage ofoil palm estates and is looking into using palm oil for the production ofbiofuel.

23/08/05 WASHINGTONReuters) - The highly contagious soybean rust diseasewas found in a sixth Alabama county and could soon spread to other fieldsin the state, the U.S. Agriculture Department said on Tuesday.The fungus was found in a soybean sentinel plot in Autauga County, inthe center of the state and adjacent to ElmoreCounty where rust was found earlier this month.The sample had five infected leaves collected from a soybean plot atthe R6 growth stage. R6 is defined when the podhas green beans inside.Ed Sikora, a plant pathologist at Auburn University, said in a reportposted on the USDA's soybean rust-monitoring Website that the fungus wouldlikely spread to other counties inthe state."Growers in south and central Alabama with fields in early tomid-reproductive stages are at high risk for soybean rust,"said Sikora. "Weather conditions are very conducive to infection from thedisease, especially where frequent/dailyrain showers are occurring."The yield-cutting disease thrives in warm, humid weather with cloudyskies.Separately, the USDA said a cold front and thunderstorms moving slowlythrough the southeastern states could spread soybean rust into new areasthis week. Most vulnerable are states that already have some countiesinfected with the fungus, plus North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, itsaid.Fungicide is recommended for most soybean growers in the state whosecrops are in the reproductive stages. Farmers with crops that have maturedbeyond the R5 growth stage do not needto spray.The windborne disease so far has remained confined to Georgia,Alabama, Mississippi, Florida and South Carolina. The majorsoybean-growing states in the Midwest, where crops are nearing maturity,are no longer believed to be vulnerable to an outbreak of the disease thisyear.Suspicious spores have also been found in several states this yearincluding Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana andIllinois, the largest soybean growing state. Last Friday, six spores werediscovered in a trap in Suffolk, Virginia.

8/19/2005 (EFE News Service) - Although Brazil slightly increased itscropland this year, its grain harvest will wind up being almost 5 percentless than in 2004, mainly due to adverse weather factors, officials saidThursday.

19/08/05 PUTRAJAYA, - Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister DatukPeter Chin has refuted claims by Indonesia that satellite pictures of Riaushowed hotspots in areas belonging to Malaysian-linked plantations."Satellite pictures are taken at a very high altitude, so how can theypinpoint for certain that those areas are Malaysian oil palm estates?"Chin said in response to news reports today on Indonesia’s insistence thatit has evidence of open burning by Malaysian-linked plantations inSumatra.

22/08/05 (The Star) - PLANTATION giant, the Felda group, is believed to beon an acquisition trail for more plantation land bank abroad.

21/08/ 2005 Washington, D.C. (DesMoinesRegister.com) - A food ingredientthat got a reputation in the 1980s as bad for the heart is coming back tocookies and other products.

22/08/2005 KORONADAL CITY (SunStar)-- A group of farmers here has urgedthe City Government to set measures that would safeguard the city's primeagricultural lands from land use and crop conversions, especially for theongoing oil palm development project in the area.

18/08/05 PUTRAJAYA, (Bernama) -- Some 44,000 workers in the oil palmindustry stand to benefit from improvements in a new collective agreement(CA) inked, Thursday with their employers, including a "safety net" in theform of a guaranteed minimum payment of RM350 per month.

18/08/ 2005 (Independent Online) - The healthy or not oil debate has takena new turn - local research has turned up a tropical oil that appears tonot only protect against the consequences of a heart attack, but is also anatural source of vitamin A.