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KUALA LUMPUR (Dow Jones)--Asian cash palm oil prices were mostlyunchanged Tuesday with trading interest in the Malaysian market stayingsluggish as participants wait for clearer price direction.Traders said market players are also waiting for news on India, wherethere has been talk of further crop damage due to weather problems andspeculation of a potential reduction in import duties."There been no trading done so far in the day. People are justwatching the (futures market) where one big player seems to want to pushit higher. As for India, there's been a lot of rumors, but so farstill no confirmation about anything," a trader said.At 0746 GMT, the benchmark November CPO contract was at 1,461 ringgit($1=MYR3.8) a metric ton, unchanged from Monday.The contract surged in the last few minutes of trading Monday.Participants prefer to wait on the sidelines Tuesday as they are wary ofanother bout of late speculative buying, traders said.Traders said a national holiday in Indonesia also sapped tradinginterest.Traders said price direction was uncertain as the market is now at aperiod when external factors such as developments in India and weatherconditions in the U.S. soybean belt have a major bearing.In recent days, there has been renewed concerns about damage toIndia's oilseed crop caused by poor weather.In July, a lack of rainfall fueled expectations the oilseed crop,which is harvested in September, would be lower this year.Rains have revived this month. However, there are now concerns of toomuch rain and flooding in several key oilseed growing regions, traderssaid.Rumors have also surfaced in recent days that the government may beplanning to reduce import duties on edible oils as part of efforts to steminflation.So far, there has been on confirmation from the government.In the cash market, CPO for August shipment was offered at 1,500ringgit ($1=MYR3.8) a ton, unchanged from Monday, delivered basis in SouthMalaysia.RBD palm olein for September shipment was offered at $430/ton,unchanged from Monday.RBD palm oil for September shipment was at $420/ton, also unchanged.

14/08/04, CHINA (foodchina.com) - The current overall edible oil markethas been oversupplied and the imports of edible oil have increased greatlyin the first half-year. According to customs statistics, China imported1.3783 million tons of soyoil in the first half-year, up 173.15%, and219,500 tons of rapeseed, up 483%. China imported 1.086 million tons ofpalm oil in January-April, up 38%. Moreover, China’ crushing capacity hasincreased greatly, increasing the supply. At present, the edible oilstocks of most crushers have been sufficient while traders are trying tokeep the low stocks. Moreover, as the new standard of edible oils will beimplemented from October 1, some unqualified edible oils will be bannedfrom selling on the market. Some crushers are lowering the prices in aneffort to clean the stocks and the prices of edible oils of small packagehave the trend to drop for promotion.

17/08/04, KUALA LUMPUR (Dow Jones)--The Indian government is unlikelyto revise palm oil import duties anytime this year, despite recentspeculation of a possible reduction in the duties, a senior industryofficial said Tuesday.I.R. Mehra, executive director of the Indian Vanaspati Producers'Association, said he doesn't expect the government to announce a change inimport duties for palm oil barely one month after it had unveiled itsbudget."There is going to be no change in the duty structure because thebudget is already over," he said.This year's budget was presented by India's new government in mid-Julyand featured a hike in refined palm oil duties to 75% from 70% previously.However, there have been rumors in recent days that the governmentmight cut import duties on a range of commodities, including edible oils,as part of efforts to curb rising inflation."There has been some talk that duties should be lowered on importsbecause prices are going up. But the government is not amenable to that.They feel it is OK and prices are within reasonable levels," Mehra said.Any revision in duties would only be likely in February 2005, when thegovernment is scheduled to present its next budget, he said.Rumors of a potential reduction in import duties has helped supportpalm oil prices in the past few days.At 0750 GMT, the benchmark November CPO contract was at 1,461 ringgit($1=MYR3.8) a metric ton, unchanged from Monday's close.

8/17/04, INDIA (Oilmandi) - India is the world's largest consumer ofedible oils, importing approximately 50 per cent of its requirement. Until2003, higher import duties on refined edible oils hiked the prices ofimported products to a higher level than the domestic product. While thesubsequent scaled-qdown import duties on palm oil saw a surge in importsin June 2003, the duty on crude palm oil remained unchanged. This and thedifferential excise duties on edible oils are anomalies to be rectified ifconsumers' and industry's interests are to be protected.

8/17/04, INDIA(Oilmandi) - Downward revision of import tariff on edibleoil and resolving caratenoid issue for import of crude palm oil can helplower the prices of edible oils, thereby easing the rising inflation rate.Edible oils have high weightage in wholesale price index (WPI).

17/08/04, CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (Dow Jones)--Brazil is expected to continueto expand its soybean area in 2004/05, according to information from theU.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service web site.

16/08/04, KUALA LUMPUR (Dow Jones)--Crude palm oil futures on the BursaMalaysia Derivatives ended higher Monday amid talk that the Indiangovernment was poised to reduce base prices for palm oil imports.The benchmark November CPO contract ended at 1,460 ringgit ($1=MYR3.8)a metric ton, up MYR30 from Friday, after moving between MYR1,422 andMYR1,478In the morning session, CPO futures barely budged, with tradingvolumes around half their usual levels.However, the market rose in the afternoon session, boosted by a surgein oilseeds and edible oil futures on India National Board of Trade, orNBOT.Traders said the rise in prices in India triggered speculation thatthe government would soon cut base prices, also known as tariff values,for palm oil.Base prices for palm oil, which are used by the government tocalculate import duties, have yet to be revised this year despite a steepdrop in global palm oil prices.However, ideas that higher edible oil futures in India was a precursorto a reduction in the base prices were misguided, traders said."If the NBOT is up, it actually means that India won't lower thetariffs. If they do reduce the (tariffs), the NBOT would be down," atrader said."So it doesn't make sense for people to say that because NBOT isup, the (tariffs) will be lower."A cut in the tariff values would make palm oil prices in Indiacheaper, not more expensive, traders said.The base price for crude palm oil is at $504/ton, for refined palm oilat $543/ton, crude palm olein at $532/ton and refined palm olein at$552/ton."The Indians have been buying hand-to-mouth all along. If thegovernment reduces the base prices, does it mean there will be a rush tobuy? I'm not so sure," a trader said.The trader said edible oil importers in India may prefer to wait fora clearer picture on the country's domestic oilseeds crops due to beharvested later this year before aggressively making forward purchases.Meanwhile, cargo surveyors Intertek Testing Services and SGS(Malaysia) Bhd. issued estimates for Malaysian palm oil exports in thefirst 15 days of August. However, the figures were well within marketexpectations and hadlittle impact on prices.SGS pegged Aug. 1-15 exports at 544,819 tons, up 4.4% from 521,655tons in the first 15 days of July.The figure was slightly lower than another estimate from IntertekTesting Services, which pegged Aug. 1-15 exports at 558,915 tons.

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 16 (Bernama-AFX-ASIA) -- IOI Oleochemical IndustriesBhd said it posted an all-time high pretax profit of 230.55 mln rgt andnet profit of 174.21 mln rgt in the year ended June, supported by highercontributions from the oleochemical manufacturing and plantation segments.The profit figures compare with the pretax profit of 170.83 mln rgtand net profit of 136.18 mln in the previous financial year.In the notes accompanying its results, IOI Oleochemical said theoleochemical manufacturing segment's pretax profit grew 11 pctyear-on-year to 116.9 mln rgt, despite higher palm oil prices, as a resultof volume growth and better cost efficiencies.At the same time, the plantation division's pretax profit improved 104pct to 96.1 mln rgt, reflecting the positive effects of its acquisition ofthe Pamol Group.Its property development, hotel and other divisions also showed someimprovement during the period under review.Going forward, the company said it is confident that the recordperformance can be sustained.

16/08/04, MANILA (Dow Jones)--The Philippines is well on its way toachieving its goal of planting over 100,000 hectares of farmlands to oilpalm by 2010, which will usher the country into self-sufficiency, a seniorgovernment official said Monday.In 2004 alone, 10,000 hectares of farmlands will be planted to oilpalm, which will bring the country's total oil palm areas to 35,000hectares, Danilo Coronacion, administrator of the Philippine CoconutAuthority, told Dow Jones Newswires.Coronacion said farmers are "well-motivated" to plant oil palm onexpected higher income compared with the cultivation of coconut trees.He said projected annual income from the cultivation of oil palm isaround 45,000 to 60,000 pesos ($1=PHP55.68) a hectare versus an annualincome of only around PHP10,000 to PHP12,000/ha from coconut plantations.According to Coronacion, domestic demand for palm oil increases byabout 5% to 10% a year, which means the country's palm oil requirement by2010 would reach around 300,000 metric tons from the current 105,000 tonsa year."Without the palm oil development program, our projected imports bythen would be about 267,000 tons because of growing demand from thefast-food, meat processing and fish canning industries," Coronacion said.Current annual production of palm oil is estimated at 45,000 tons. Theshortfall in production is covered by imports.

16/08/04, MANILA (Dow Jones)--World coconut oil prices are higher thisweek on bullish soyoil futures and active buying in the market.Manila-based traders quoted coconut oil for July/August shipment at$665 a metric ton, CIF basis Rotterdam, while August/September deliverywas offered at $635/ton. These prices are higher by about $15-$25/ton fromprices quoted a week ago.Traders said prices were boosted by a rally in soyoil futuresfollowing the release of a bullish crop report.The U.S. Department of Agriculture's August crop report said the firstgovernment survey of the 2004-05 U.S. soybean crop showed a much smallercrop than the industry had anticipated.One trader said active buying in the coconut oil market as consumersare trying to cover their nearby positions further boosted prices. Stocksin Rotterdam, a major export destination, remain low, he added.Danilo Coronacion, administrator of the Philippine Coconut Authority,said export prices are likely to remain high until the end of the year onan expected increase in demand from oleochemical producers."There's a tendency for (prices of) petroleum-based oleochemicals torise because of an increase in crude prices. Once you have an increase inoleochemicals (prices), then the price of coconut oil will follow," saidCoronacion.Oleochemicals, derived from both coconut oil and petroleum, are usedin the manufacture of detergents, cosmetics and pharmaceutical products.The Philippines is the world's biggest exporter of coconut oil,averaging about 1 million tons a year.

8/14/04 INDIA - Kuok Group of Singapore, owned by Forbes billionairetycoon Robert Kuok, is setting up two wholly owned subsidiaries formanufacturing, processing and trading edible oils in India.

8/14/04 INDIA - There is good reason for the finance minister’s promisedmeasured response to inflation to weigh more in favour of fiscal andsectoral policy changes than of monetary tightening.