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KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Malaysia's palm oil output was estimatedat 915,000-920,000 tonnes in January, down 14 percent from December,private crop forecaster Ivan Wong said on Tuesday.Wong's estimates, released to the market on Monday, forecastend-January stocks of palm oil at 1.16-1.17 million tonnes, down from theofficial 1.21 million tonnes in December.The crop forecaster put palm oil exports in January at 855,000-860,000tonnes, down from the official 949,630 tonnes in December.Wong's palm oil supply-demand estimates/projections as of January 21,2002 (in '000 tonnes) were:DecJan Feb MarOpening stocks 1294 12131155-1165 960-970Imports 4132 5-10 5Production 949 915-920760-765 870-875Total supply 2284 2160-21651920-1945 1835-1850Exports 950 855-860820-825 880-885Apparent domestic use 121 140-145130-135 135-140Total offtake 1071 995-1005950-960 1015-1025End month stocks 1213 1155-1165960-970 810-820

SITIAWAN, Jan 20 (Bernama) -- A US-based public relations company will beappointed next month to promote the use of palm oil and palm tree biomassin the local and international markets, Primary Industries Minister DatukSeri Dr Lim Keng Yaik said Sunday.

Kuala Lumpur , 21 January, 2002 (Business Times) - TWO major deals worth atotal of RM767.5 million in three months has put the spotlight on GoldenHope Plantations Bhd, as investors factor in the effects of those deals onwhat had been a solid, dependable counter.Analysts say prior to the deals, investors have always been comfortablewith the plantation group’s net cash reserve of between RM400 million andRM500 million.“Previously, they knew that they can get their returns by investing inGolden Hope shares.“But now with the acquisitions, its cash reserve will be depleted for sureand fund managers will wonder whether the company can maintain itsperformance,” said an analyst with a local research firm.Golden Hope, a unit of national fund management entity Perbadanan NasionalBhd, has been in the limelight for the past several months with thesuccessful acquisition of the world’s second largest edible oil refineryin the Netherlands two weeks ago.On January 9 this year, after negotiations started in November 2 lastyear, Golden Hope bought the Unimills edible oils refinery fromBritish-Dutch food and consumer products giant Unilever Plc for 60 millioneuro (1 euro = RM3.38).The Unimills refinery which employs 210 workers is located in Zwijndrecht,near the vicinity of the world’s fourth largest port, Rotterdam.The refinery has annual sales of its products to third parties of 130million euro in central and north-western parts Europe alone with anannual capacity to process 450,000 tonnes of palm kernel, coconut,soyabean, rapeseed and sunflower oils.Prior to that, Golden Hope, through its wholly-owned subsidiary GoldenHope Properties (Pahang ) Sdn Bhd, had also bought the 800ha Haron Estatefrom Kumpulan Guthrie Bhd for RM565.28 million.The analyst said with the cash gone, in purchasing the refinery and lockedup in the Haron estate deal, questions remain whether Golden Hope couldmaintain good dividend payments for the current financial year.“We have been quite negative with the land purchase right from the verybeginning in which we feel the pricing is a bit too high.“Golden Hope should have negotiated for a lower price and it is nothealthy for any company to have their cash locked up in an estate,”shesaid.Under the deal, Golden Hope is required to make annual payments of RM113million for the first four years and RM156. 5 million to Guthrie in thefifth and final year.Meanwhile, another analyst said the Unimills refinery deal lacks financialdetails in its previous performance such as net sales, overhead cost,operational cost and and turnover.“No one is really sure how much cost Golden Hope has to incur annually inrunning the refinery.“Until we get more details it is still not fair to comment whether therefinery purchase was a fair deal for Golden Hope or not, and investorswill continue to remain in the dark,” he said.The analyst added that Golden Hope’s international divisions such asrubber trading was also not doing well and would put a dent in itsperformance this year.“Investors have always associated Golden Hope as one of the top fourplantation stocks together with Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd (KLK), IOI CorpBhd and Kumpulan Guthrie Bhd.“However, their cash is now gone, locked up in the deals, and at thisjuncture I would go for IOI or KLK,” she concluded.For the financial year ended June 30 2001, Golden Hope registered aRM20.45 million net profit compared with RM163.65 million in 2000 andRM439.72 million in 1999.Multex Global Estimates, which compiles forecasts from 17 research houses,projects Golden Hope to make a net profit of RM139 million on the back ofa RM1.58 billion turnover with earnings per share of 13.72 sen.For the first three months ended September 30 2001, the company made a netprofit of RM9.28 million compared with RM27.37 million in the samecorresponding period last year.At the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE), from a period of between July16 last year to January 14 this year, Golden Hope shares depreciated 4.95per cent and only managed a 3.46 per cent in total returns.Its share traded from RM3.64 on July 16 last year to RM3.46 last Friday.Its share price dipped to as low as RM3.08 during the September 11 attacksbut managed to climb back to RM3.50 a share within a week.As a comparison, the KLSE’s Composite Index, during the same period,registered a 11.31 per cent appreciation and recorded 12.89 per cent intotal returns.KLSE’s sub-plantation index, meanwhile, registered a 4.60 per centappreciation with total returns of 5.66 per cent.However, not all the analysts contacted were pessimistic with the deal.“Bear in mind, Golden Hope is almost a hundred years old and the companyis one of the most cost-efficient plantation companies in the country withhigh yields and low cost of crude palm oil production.“Coupled with good management practises the company can put in place goodwork ethics which can bring returns to the refinery,” said the analyst.He added the deal in Europe has also placed the company at the centre ofthe world’s edible oils market which can result in a bigger market shareas far as refining and processing oils were concerned,“The refinery not only can process palm oil but it can also processrapeseed, soyabean and sunflower oils.”He added that competition in Europe was stiff, where all the foreign-ownedrefiners would vie for sales to process edible oils and Golden Hope has anadvantage if it charges more competitive rates to multinationals in thefood and consumer products business that use edible oil as their basematerials.“The returns may not be immediate but over time it will be well worth it,”he said.He added that the move was also in line with diversification plans urgedby the Government which stressed plantation companies to expand theirearnings base.As a comparison, other plantation companies such as United Plantations Bhdhas palm oil operations in Mexico, the US and the UK.Sime Darby Bhd, meanwhile, owns a refinery in Egypt and the Kwok Group hasa refinery in China.Golden Hope currently has a landbank of over 170,000ha comprising mainlyof palm oil, cocoa, rubber, coconut and fruits. Golden Hope alsomanufactures glycerine or fatty alcohol, fruit juices, food, rubber baseproducts and also owns several property developments.It is also an investment holding company with activities in ownershipmanagement, processing, marketing and research activities.Golden Hope’s overseas operations are in Vietnam, Germany and China.The Vietnam and China operations are in the business of refining edibleoil. In Indonesia Golden Hope is in the midst of developing its firstoverseas oil palm plantation including a processing complex.

BOMBAY, Jan 21 (Reuters) - India's edible oil imports are expected to fallthis year as domestic supply is likely to increase on prospects of abetter oilseed crop compared with the previous year, traders said onMonday.India, the world's top edible oil buyer, is likely to import 4.45 to 4.50million tonnes of oil in the crop year 2001/02 (November-October), downfrom 4.80 million tonnes the previous year, they said."Imports are bound to fall this year with rising domestic availability,"B.V. Mehta, executive director of the Solvent Extractors' Association ofIndia, told Reuters.Oilseed output in the current crop year is expected to rise because goodmonsoon rains have helped the winter crop and left enough moisture in thesoil for the summer crop, traders said.The winter crop is planted during the monsoon season in June-July andharvested in October and November, while the summer crop is sown inNovember-December and harvested in March-April.Output from the winter crop this year is forecast to rise to 12.3 milliontonnes from 10.9 million in the previous year, when a severe drought hitmany parts of the country, Mehta said.Summer output is estimated at 7.1 million to 7.4 million tonnes, higherthan the previous year's 6.5 million, but lower than an earlier projectionof about 8.5 million tonnes."The main oilseed producing belt in northern India received poor rainshitting the summer season crop," said G.G. Patel, an edible oil traderbased in the western city of Rajkot.He said this had led to scaling down the earlier output projection.With the expected rise in oilseeds production, domestic oil supply islikely to be higher by 650,000 to 700,000 tonnes this year, traders said.But oil imports will fall only by 300,000 to 350,000 tonnes as localconsumption is likely to increase by about 350,000 tonnes, against earlierestimates of a 500,000-tonne rise."Local demand will not rise very fast due to the poor state of the Indianeconomy and higher domestic oil prices," said Sandeep Bajoria, managingdirector of Bajoria Fats and Proteins Ltd, adding that the average pricesof domestic oils have risen about 25 percent so far this year.But a rise in production this year would encourage farmers to grow moreoilseeds, which would result in a drop in oil imports in subsequent years,traders said.OIL MIXThe import ratio of palm oils to soft oils is likely to remain unchangedthis year despite a sharp devaluation of the currency in Argentina, amajor exporter of soybean oil, traders said.Argentina recently fixed its official exchange rate at 1.40 pesos per U.S.dollar for exports and government transactions, a 29 percent devaluation."If soyoil becomes cheaper after April-May, Malaysian and Indonesianexporters would be prompted to cut prices of palm oils accordingly," saida Bombay-based oil trader.Argentina will harvest new soybean crop from April, traders said.India imports palm oils, which is about 60 to 65 percent of total edibleoil imports, from Malaysia and Indonesia. The remaining soft oil is mainlyimported from South American countries.Traders said during the current year India was likely to import an average30,000 tonnes of RBD palm olein, 60,000-70,000 tonnes of crude palm oleinand 140,000-150,000 tonnes of CPO every month.The country's edible oil imports fell by nearly 12 percent to 609,464tonnes in the first two months of the current oil year from 689,523 tonnesin the same period a year earlier.

21 January, 2002 (Business Times) - A UNITED States-based publicrelations company will be appointed next month to promote and maximise theuse of palm oil and byproducts from oil palm trees for the internationalmarket.The company, Arthur De'Little International, will be assigned to list downnew discoveries related to the oil palm products and find potentialcompanies that could develop end-products.The products will include those which use the oleochemical derivativesfrom the palm oil and the biomass which is made from the trunks, frondsand empty fruit branches of the trees.Primary Industries Minister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik said the NationalEconomic Action Council had discussed the appointment of the company withthe Ministry on Saturday after it (NEAC) met the company's representativesrecently.Dr Lim said details of the terms and conditions of the appointment wouldbe disclosed after the agreement was signed in two weeks.He said most of the new discoveries made by the Palm Oil ResearchInstitute of Malaysia were not being utilised or commercialised.For example, he said, only two companies were involved in the productionand utilisation of fibreboard from oil palm biomass even though thecountry produced between 30 million and 50 million tonnes of theby-product annually.He said the Government also planned to promote the oleochemicalderivatives in China and other countries after it had been succesfullydeveloped and widely used in branded cosmetics and toiletries in Europeand the US.He said the Government was seeking to diversify the use of palm oilproducts after the commodity price plunged to as low as RM670 per tonne inFebruary last year."In the past two years the price of crude palm oil had several timesfallen below the production cost and that had severely affectedsmallholders," he told reporters after launching a free health-screeningprogramme for residents of Kampung Baru Ayer Tawar, Ayer Tawar in Perakyesterday.He said the new approach was needed to maintain the price of the commodityafter it had stabilised to between RM1,200 and RM1,300 per tonne in thepast few months.Price stability came about after the Government introduced severalmeasures which included requesting power generating companies to use palmoil as combustion fuel and encouraging replanting of oil palm trees amongsmallholders and estates.

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 12 (Bernama) -- Total palm oil stocks in the countrydropped 6.27 percent to 1.213 million tonnes in December last year from1.294 million tonnes in November, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB),said.

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 17 (Bernama) -- Palm oil, the "golden crop" of Malaysia,will contribute to a better foreign exchange for the country in 2002 asthe commodity is currently enjoying better price compared with prices lastyear.

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 15 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Palm Oil Promotion Council(MPOPC) is looking at the possibility of opening another office in Chinawith the latter's entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO). "Ifthings work out, we would certainly want to see another office, perhaps inShanghai. This is something we are working on," said its chief executiveofficer, Datuk Haron Siraj.

BINTULU, Jan 16 (Bernama) -- Malaysia, trying to make it big in the worldof container shipping, last year handled a total of 7.3 million TEUs(20-foot-equivalent units) through its various seaports, according tolatest official figures.

PULAU PINANG, Jan 16 (Bernama) -- Producers of power from renewable energysources such as solar and biomass have been urged to produce more poweramounting to 10 megawatt to help the government reach its target of powergeneration from new energy sources at between 500 MW and 600 MW or fivepercent more in the next four years.

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 11 (Bernama) -- Sri Lanka Rubber Research Insititutedirector Dr L.M.K Tillekeratne says his comments published early this yearthat replanting rubber estates with oil palm without serious scientificstudy could damage the environment was only applicable to the Sri Lankasituation.

15 January, 2002 (Business Times) - BIG ships are still unable to collectcrude palm oil from Belawan port in Indonesia, forcing some vessels todivert to Malaysia as efforts to remove a sinking dredger move at a snail’s pace, traders said yesterday.