Berita Arkib

KUALA LUMPUR, April 10 (Reuters) - Malaysia will sign a $368 millioncontract to buy battle tanks from Poland on Friday, a government officialtold Reuters on Thursday.The contract is for the supply of 48 battle tanks from Poland's ForeignTrade Enterprise Bumar Ltd.In March 2002, Malaysia agreed in principle to buy Polish PT-91 battletanks, a modified version of Russia's T-72. The PT-91, weighing 45 tonnes,has a 60 km per hour top speed and state-of-the-art firepower with day andnight vision.A source close to the deal said 30 percent of the price will covered bya counter-trade involving the sale of Malaysian palm oil.Malaysia Mining Corp Bhd (MMC), the flagship listed company ofbusinessman Syed Mokhtar Albukhary, will also sign a contract on Friday tomaintain the battle tanks for 15 to 20 years, according to a statementfrom the company.MMC has interests in Malaysia's largest independent power producerMalakoff Bhd and a fast-growing transhipment facility Port of TanjungPelepas.

KUALA LUMPUR (April 11 2003) : Cargo surveyor SGS said Malaysian palm oilexports for April 1-10 stood at 314,145 tonnes, down from 355,514 forMarch 1-10 and below market expectations of between 360,000 and 375,000tonnes.

KUALA LUMPUR, April 9 (Reuters) - Malaysia said on Wednesday it would keepthis year's duty-free crude palm oil quota at 1.3 million tonnes, while itit expected demand for the exports to rise after the war against Iraqended.Malaysia, the world's largest palm oil producer, imposes an export taxon crude palm oil, or CPO, to protect its refiners and ensure localsupplies. The tax starts at 10 percent on prices above 650 ringgit ($171)a tonne.Primary Industries Minister Lim Keng Yaik, speaking with reporters,confirmed the quota news, which industry sources had revealed earlier onWednesday.Lim said Malaysia looked forward to a speedy end to the war."Then," Lim said, "the demand for palm oil will increase quitesubstantively."So far, he added, the war had not dented exports to Malaysia'sneighbours despite a small rise in transportation and insurance charges."There was not very much effect on the delivery of palm oil toneighbouring countries."Several palm oil traders told Reuters over the weekend more than400,000 tonnes of palm oil-based vegetable ghee and 100,000 tonnes of palmoil were poised to enter Iraq as part of the United Nations oil-for-foodprogramme for Iraq.Traders said Malaysia's palm oil exports were expected to rise tobetween 360,000 and 375,000 tonnes in the first 10 days of April from355,514 tonnes for March 1-10 as reported by cargo surveyor SGS.The minister said the exports quotas were given to plantation companieslocated in the states of Sabah and Sarawak on Borneo island. Traders saidthe quotas were given to seven companies.Lim said the government discouraged the exports of CPO from PeninsularMalaysia because of refineries' overcapacity there."I cannot allow too much crude palm oil to come out from PeninsularMalaysia," he said.The government had so far released 1.2 million tonnes of the quotas andwas retaining the remaining 100,000 tonnes, Lim said.Malaysia produced 11.9 million tonnes of PO in 2002, up from 11.8million tonnes in 2001. This year's production is estimated to total 12million tonnes.Malaysia's palm oil exports are mostly in the form of by-products, suchas RBD palm olein and stearin.

JOHOR BAHARU, April 2 (Bernama) -- Thirteen plantations, in the state,owned by the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) scheme operatorswere sold to other parties including financial institutions.

ISLAMABAD (April 08 2003) : The Ministry of Agriculture plans to increasethe import of the edible oil this year as the demand for the products isgrowing, an official said.

SAO PAULO (April 08 2003) : Brazil's crop forecast agency said it wouldlikely raise its 2002-03 soyabean crop estimate to about 50.5 milliontonnes as harvest data shows better-than-expected yields.

JAKARTA, April 7 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's plantation giant, KumpulanGuthrie Bhd, will allocate about US$100 mill. over the next two years toincrease the output of its oil palm operation in Indonesia.

KUALA LUMPUR (April 08 2003) : Palm oil futures surged in Monday's latetrade to close sharply higher, fuelled by talk of Malaysia's participationin Iraq's food-for-oil programme.

KUALA LUMPUR, April 8 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil flew deep intonegative territory on Tuesday as players disagreed over the potential forthe market's exports under Iraq's food-for-oil programme, which bolsteredprices just a day ago.Talk on Monday that palm oil may benefit immensely from a race to getedible oil supplies into Iraq saw palm oil's key June contract surging 28ringgit and other futures contracts posting double-digit gains.But disagreement on Tuesday on what exactly the United Nationsprogramme meant for palm oil sales hammered the June contract down by 36ringgit to a close of 1,444 ($380) a tonne."If you ask me, people are just confused," said a trader. "It doesn'tmake sense for a market to go up so much a day before and fall this much aday later."Several palm oil traders told Reuters over the weekend that more than400,000 tonnes of palm-based vegetable ghee and 100,000 tonnes of palm oilwere poised to enter Iraq before May 12 as stipulated by a U.N. SecurityCouncil resolution.Others disputed the volume, saying Iraq's annual demand of vegetableghee was only 360,000 tonnes. "We are thus wondering how they could takeso much within the next few weeks," said one.But dealers specialising in sales to the Middle East said an untoldnumber of shipments to Iraq contracted by the United Nations had yet to bedelivered over the 12 years that Baghdad has been under sanctions.They said the world body was anxious now to get those contractsunderway."We know of contracts that were not honoured because prices weren'tright. Those deals may have to be renegotiated at today's prices," said anexport official at an oils brokerage in Kuala Lumpur that deals mainlywith the Gulf.A check on U.N.'s food-for-oil website,http://www.un.org/Depts/oip/index.html, on Tuesday indicated 13shipments of vegetable ghee already underway to Iraq, 44 similar contractsapproved under a priority list and 86 awaiting voyage.But tonnages for contracts were not specified. In physical trade ofcrude palm oil (CPO), contracts forApril and May saw sale offers close at 1,485 ringgit a tonne -- down 25ringgit from Monday -- against bids at 1,475 in both the southern andcentral regions.Business was only reported at 1,500-1,480 in the south and 1,490-1,480in the central region.(US$1 = 3.8 ringgit) - Reuters

MOSCOW (April 08 2003) : Russia's sunoil exports may exceed imports bysome 10,000 tonnes in the 2002-03 season due to higher output and stabledemand.

3/4/03 (Southwest Farm Press) - Despite very tight stocks, robustprospects for use and exports, and an expected decline in U.S. plantingsthis year, soybean prices for 2003 are projected at $5.10 per bushel,"below what we would have expected based on historical data," says PeterRiley, agricultural economist for USDA's Farm Services Agency.

KUALA LUMPUR (April 07 2003) : The United Nations has asked suppliers tosend more than half a million tonnes of edible oils to Iraq as part of theoil-for-food programme for the war-hit country as fears over widespreadhunger grew, palm oil traders said.