Berita Arkib

NEW DELHI, Aug 13 (Bernama) -- With the festive season in India fastapproaching, the demand for edible oil has started to increase.

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 12 (Bernama) -- The Felda settlers of Jengka 15 in theMaran district of Pahang had depended on their oil palms aka the "goldentree" for their livelihood for about 25 years but poor prices and fallingoutput two years ago had taken a toll on their incomes.

Four consecutive years of fiscal deficit does not seem to hindergovernment spending. Aided by higher palm oil and petroleum prices,domestic liquidity remains ample to finance future government expenditureunder the forthcoming 2002 Budget.

THE Government is pulling the plug on the project to use crude palm oil(CPO) as fuel for power generation following the sharp improvement in thecommodity's prices of late.

ISLAMABAD - The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (Smeda)has proposed to the ministry of industries and production that 15 percentadditional duty should be imposed on imported edible oil to protect thelocal growers involved in the production of edible oil, Smeda sourcesinformed Business Recorder here on Thursday.Sources said, though, prices of edible oils has increased by 70 percent inthe international market during recent months, necessary measures wererequired to protect the local industry from this onslaught.They further said, local production of edible oil has already shrunk from$ 322 million in 1998-1999 to $ 142 million in 2000-2001, and the trendindicates that the government was not encouraging the local industry bytaking required steps.Sources said, Pakistan Oilseeds Development Board (PODB) failed domesticpolicies have forced Smeda to approach the federal government foradditional steps to save the local industry which was badly needed, sothat the country could produce edible oil in such a quantity to meet thenational requirements.Although, the import of palm oil and soyabean oil have decreased by 50percent and 12 percent respectively during the previous year, however,Pakistan has spent about $ 325 million on the import of edible oil fromdifferent markets, sources added.When the Central Board of Revenue (CBR) sources was contacted to know theduties on edible oil, they disclosed that duty on edible oil is the secondhighest after cars.On the other hand, Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturers Association (PVMA) isdemanding reduction in custom duty on edible oil, as prices of thecommodity were already skyrocketing in the international market. Likewise,prices of ghee and edible oil in the local market were being increasedevery day.Sources said, in a recent meeting, the PVMA has asked the ministry ofindustries and production to reduce duty on tin plate, so that the pricesof ghee and cooking oil could be brought under control.

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 11 (Bernama) -- If you want to know what's buzzing inthe palm oil industry, perhaps the 2001 International Palm Oil Congress(2001 PIPOC) to be held here Aug 20 to 23 is the best place to be at.

13 August 2001(Business Times) - PALM oil companies, committed to supplycrude palm oil (CPO) for the government-initiated CPO burning project, areasking for a review of the purchasing price.

10 August 2001(Business Times) - THE project to use crude palm oil (CPO)as fuel for power generation plants must go on to maintain positive marketsentiment and provide valuable data to researchers on the viability of themove.

Friday, August 10, 2001 (The Star)- JOHORE Tenggara Oil Palm Bhd (JTOP) ison the lookout for more plantation land as it seeks to expand its oil palmplantation business.According to JTOP managing director Datuk Shahabudin Shafie, despite thesomewhat low price of crude palm oil (CPO) in the international market,the company is confident of the future prospect of the commodity."We have a lot of faith in palm oil and it remains our business focus. Infact, things are looking up for us as now the CPO price has risen toRM1,300 per tonne," Shahabudin told reporters after the company's EGM inKuala Lumpur yesterday.He said that as part of JTOP's expansion plan, it had acquired 21,000acres of plantation land in Gua Musang, Kelantan, of which 3,000 had beenplanted with oil palm.The purchase costing RM49mil was funded by proceeds totalling RM104milfrom the disposal of its 25% share in Gugusan Induk Sdn Bhd, awholly-owned unit of JTOP.A further RM30mil will be used to repay bank borrowings and the rest foroperational costs.JTOP has a landbank of 75,000 acres, mostly in Kota Tinggi and Kluang inJohor.The EGM had earlier approved a proposal for the disposal by Gugusan IndukSdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of JTOP, of its 25% equity interest inNice Frontier Sdn Bhd, comprising 2.5 million RM1 shares for RM104.425milcash.

7/8/2001(The Star) - THE palm oil industry is confident that the crudepalm oil (CPO) price will stay between RM1,200-RM1,300 per tonne,according to Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) director-general Datuk DrYusof Basiron.The CPO market, which has been in the doldrums for such a long time, hadenjoyed a bullish cycle in the past few weeks.According to Yusof, now the CPO price is close to RM1,300 per tonnecompared to what it was in the past at RM670 per tonne.He said the low price in CPO previously was due to the oversupply of oiland fats globally."The industry is confident that the price will sustain or even improvebecause many countries are cutting back on production, thereby reducingsupply and going on replanting like Malaysia," Yusof told reporters duringan interview in Kajang yesterday.He said that the present price was still very cheap for countries whichdid not produce palm oil but needed it.Asked whether the price would go much higher than RM1,300, Yusof said thathe doubted it but believed that the price was likely to firm up aroundthat level.--Bernama

8/8/2001(NSTP) - DEWAN RAKYAT - AN Energy Commissioner has beenestablished to strengthen and increase the effectiveness of the monitoringsystem on the energy sector.

Lahore,Pakistan,8/9/2001(Business Recorder) - Favourable weatherconditions is going to boost the production of local oilseed by 20 percent this year, said the Chairman, Pakistan Vanaspati ManufacturersAssociation (PVMA), Mian Muhammad Ibrahim. In a statement issued hereTuesday, he stated that this bright out look of Pakistan's winter oilseedcrop could sharply reduce the burden on our foreign exchange resources andimports are expected to come down by 25 percent.Spotlighting the recent weather pattern of the country, he averred thatlast year Pakistan suffered due to severe drought, but this year plenty ofmoisture in the soil and sufficient water in dams are the potent reasonsfor this optimism. Moreover, he said that 100,000 tonnes of soyabean oilin US aid has also started arriving in Pakistan.Continuing, he observed that all the positive indications requireconsistency in our edible oil policy, which is not available at present.He pointed out that if we want that the present trend of increase in localoilseed should continue, we must discourage the import of oilseed to turntables in favour of farmers of the local oilseed who need protectionagainst the cheap import of oilseed. The government must revise itspresent policy of low import tariff on foreign oilseed, he added.He hoped that there will be bumper crop of Canola and cottonseed oil thisyear and added that when the prices of Palm oil and Soyabean are going up,our farmers stand a good chance of getting economic prices from thecrushers. He appealed to the government that these favourable conditionsmust not be eroded for any consideration.