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07 March 2002 (BusinessTimes) - MALAYSIA’S crude palm oil (CPO) prices areexpected to rally in tandem with the outcome of a major seminar on thecommodity’s price outlook today.Traders said the market currently relies on market-moving news to bepresented by industry experts before players can initiate their positions.“There is a general consensus that CPO prices may react favourably to ahost of good news from the seminar and may reach the RM1,200 a tonne levelnext week,” a trader told Business Times yesterday in Kuala Lumpur.The Malaysia Derivatives Exchange (MDEX) will hold the annual palm andlauric oils conference and exhibition on CPO price outlook 2002/2003 inSeri Kembangan, Selangor, today.The two-day event, which will be officiated by Primary Industries MinisterDatuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik, is being attended by local and foreignindustry experts.“There is a general consensus that the world is focusing only on soyabeanand palm oil at the moment due to the tightening supply of their competing15 edible oils,” said the trader.Other edible oils and fats include coconut, cottonseed, rapeseed, corn,tallow and linseed.The trader said that any positive forecast on CPO by experts during theseminar may boost the commodity’s prices, at least until July whenrapeseed and sunflower oil are due for harvest.“Projections of a drop in CPO production by year-end, the possibility of arecurrence of El Nino and China’s pledge to buy 2.4 million tonnes of thecommodity are enough to excite the market,” he said.The trader added that global rapeseed production for the 2001/2002 seasonwill see a decline of 1.37 per cent to 13.67 million tonnes from 13.86million tonnes in 2000/2001.“Global sunflower production is also expected to decline by 13.8 per centto 7.5 million tonnes during the 2001/2002 season against 8.7 milliontonnes in 2000/2001,” he said.“At best, CPO prices can continue to remain rangebound between RM1,150 andRM1,180 a tonne, at least for the whole of next week after the seminarends,” he said.Meanwhile at MDEX, CPO futures contracts ended higher with the benchmarkthird-month May delivery closing RM1 higher at RM1,166 a tonne.March, April and June deliveries gained RM3, RM8 and RM2 to close atRM1,153, RM1,159 and RM1,175 a tonne respectively.Open interests gained 260 contracts to close at 9,367 contracts, whilevolume gained 646 lots to close at 2,098 lots.

6 March, 2002 (Oil World Flash) - The EU-15 sharply raised imports of 17oils and fats from third countries in Jan/Dec 2001 while exports to thirdcountries declined significantly. The 15 countries raised imports fromnon-EU countries to a record 5.5 Mn T, up 0.6 Mn T or 12% from the yearbefore. During the same period, EU exports to third countries declined by0.25 Mn T to only 2.45 Mn T, a 5-year low. This sharp increase in netimports is due to several factors. It can be expected that net importrequirements continue to rise this year, at least until July, since thefollowing factors generally remain in place:

KUALA LUMPUR, March 7 - Partial data available indicate CPO production inFebruary was in line with our projection of December 14. As a matter offact, combined actual output in December-January at 1.88 million tonnesalso came close to our estimate/projection of 1.865 million tonnes(1.86-1.87 million tonnes).We peg production in February at 775,000 tonnes. This is 160,000tonnes or 17 percent lower than a month earlier. Year-on-year, productionfell 113,400 tonnes or 12.8 percent. This brought the contraction in thelatest three months December-February to 8.2 percent or 235,000 tonnes.Our December 14 estimate/projection on offtake in December-January attwo million tonnes also came close to actual offtake of nearly 2.03million tonnes. The 30,000 tonnes more in actual offtake reflected verymuch larger than projected imports of palm oil. This was also the case inFebruary when imports remained large at an estimated 42,000 tonnes or wellabove our previous tentative estimate of 17,000 tonnes but offtake thistime fell severely.While total palm oil supply turned out to be somewhat higher inFebruary, total offtake was a big dissappointment. Exports at an estimated670,000 tonnes can be described as dismal as they were down substantiallyfrom 827,500 tonnes a month earlier and 821,700 tonnes a year ago. Themonth-on-month drop in exports of around 158,000 tonnes was due chiefly tolarge declines in liftings by the European Union (EU) and Pakistan.Shipments to the European Union (EU) fell by around 50,000 tonnes toan estimated 75,000 tonnes while Pakistan cut its offtake by an estimated60,000 tonnes to 75,000 tonnes. Shipments to the United States (US) alsofell sharply by 20,000 tonnes. The only spark in the gloom was China whichraised its offtake to an estimated 130,000 tonnes from 72,000 tonnes inJanuary and 63,200 tonnes a year ago.Shipments to India at around 105,000 tonnes dropped slightly by some5,000 tonnes compared to January but fell a hefty 100,000 tonnes fromFebruary last year. This brought the contraction in shipments to India inJanuary-February to a hefty 170,000 tonnes or 44 percent to an estimated216,000 tonnes from 386,000 tonnes a year ago.The continued contraction in imports of edible oils by India sinceSeptember last year followed a significant recovery in the winter (kharif)oilseed harvest of 1.4 million tonnes to 12.3 million tonnes last Octoberand expectations for an increase of up to 900,000 tonnes in the simmer(Rabi) oilseed crop to be harvested in about a month's time. No changeswere made in India's import tariff structure for vegoils or oilseeds inthe recent Budget.The month-on-month decline in palm oil production in February was moreor less matched by a similar drop in exports. However, with importscontinuing at a high level, stocks of palm oil at end-February thus showan increase of around 20,000 tonnes to 1.27 million tonnes. U.S. stocks ofSBO also remained at high levels and even rose to upset forecasts latelast year they would decline.Stocks at end January reached all time record high level of 3,045million lbs (1.3 million tonnes), up from 2,868 million lbs in thepreceding month and 2,380 million lbs a year earlier.Argentina's announcement yesterday of a levy or tariff of 10 percenton exports of grain and oilseeds and five percent on meal and vegoils cameas a little surprise. The cash-strapped government needs to have a shareof the windfall profits on agricultural exports boosted by the more than50 percent gains arising from the development of the peso against thedollar. Argentina has been a keen seller in the export market in recentweeks. China meanwhile missed the deadline yesterday to issue certificatesof entitlement for TRQs.(The opinions expressed in this article represent the views of theauthor only. They should not be seen as necessarily reflecting the viewsof Reuters)

KUALA LUMPUR, March 6 (Reuters) - Malaysian Derivatives Clearing House(MDCH) said on Wednesday it had introduced a new membership scheme toguarantee smoother trading for crude palm oil (CPO) futures on theMalaysian Derivatives Exchange.The Direct Clearing Membership (DCM) will allow eligible participantsto maintain CPO futures open positions directly with the clearing houseand minimise trading risks."The facility, particularly for institutional users of CPO products,acts as means of minimising counter-party risk and ensures absoluteconfidentiality of positions," the clearing house said in a statement,adding that applications for membership begin on March 6.A DCM member will execute trades through a futures broker, and will nowbe able to clear trades directly with the clearing house. Under theprevious system trade participants were required to trade and clear palmoil futures via brokers."DCMs will be able to carry out post trade transactions, such as tradesand position maintenance, margining and settlements directly with theMDCH," said the statement.The MDCH clears and settles CPO futures contract, the Kuala LumpurInterbank Offer Rates Futures Contract, the Composite Index FuturesContract and the Composite Index Options Contract, which are traded on thederivatives exchange."MDCH is confident that this new category of membership, DCM, willaddress the issues of counter-party risk and confidentiality," thestatement said.

MOSCOW. Feb 28(Interfax) - The Russian government has scrapped licensingfor the export of sunflower seeds, rapeseed and soybeans, as well as forimporting tobacco and its commercial substitutes.The government information department said that the relevant resolution(N129) was signed on February 26 with the aim of further liberalizingforeign trade operations.IAM analysts forecast that Russia may expand its sunflower crop area nextyear because many oilseed refineries have increased.Yelena Tyurina, the director of the Institute of Agrarian Marketing (IAM),said the cancellation of licensing for oilseed exports would simplifyingexporting procedures and increase the number of exporters. "However, thisyear this measure will not have much impact on the domestic market andforeign trade operations because there is virtually nothing to export,"Tyurina told Interfax.Russian production of sunflower seeds fell to 2.7 million tonnes last yearfrom 3.9 million tonnes in 2000.The global shortage of sunflower seeds and the resulting high prices willalso encourage Russian farmers to increase production.In these circumstances, the scrapping of licensing will stimulate growthof exports, Tyurina said.

1 March, 2002 (OIL WORLD WEEKLY)- World stocks of 8 major veg. oils are estimated at 10.8 Mn T as of 1April 2002 down 0.8 Mn T on the year. As of Jan 1, global inventoriesamounted to an estimated 11.6 Mn T, down 0.5 Mn T from a year ago.-The year-on-year increase in world production is seen diminishing toabout 0.4 Mn T in Jan/March 2002.- World disappearance of 8 oils is likely to show an increase of 0.7 Mn Tthis quarter from the year before, a slowdown from an average growth of1.1 Mn T.

Combined exports of soybeans, oil and meal of the USA, Argentina andBrazil have increased substantially so far this season. A substantialboost in the net exports of soybeans and meal (meal basis) by 5.7 Mn T or23% from last year in Sept/Jan. At the same time, net exports of soybeansand oil (oil basis) increased steeply by almost 1.5 Mn T or 30%. DuringSept/Jan 2001/02, soybean exports of the USA, Argentina and Brazil wereboosted unexpectedly sharply to 21.0 Mn T, up by 4.5 Mn or 27% from lastyear. The European Union was the biggest destination, taking 8.0 Mn T inSept/Jan, up by 1.4 Mn T. Exports to China were boosted by 0.9 Mn T.Sizable increases also occurred to Thailand, Taiwan, South Korea, severalother Asian countries, Mexico, Canada, North Africa, Turkey and CentralEurope. A very sharp increase also occurred in the G-3 exports of soybeanmeal to 11.9 Mn T in Oct/Jan 2001/02, up by 2.1 Mn T. Biggest increaseswere noted to the European Union, Central Europe and several othercountries.

KUALA LUMPUR, March 4 (Bernama) -- Cuba which depends heavily on importsto meet its domestic needs for fats and oils, has imported only threeshipments of palm oil from Malaysia since 1991.

6 March, 2002 (Business Times) - SUTRAJAYA Shipping Sdn Bhd, a member ofthe Felda Group of Companies, aims to significantly increase the shipmentof palm oil for other palm oil producers in Malaysia.

Tuesday, March 5, 2002 (The Star) - BANK Industri & Teknologi Malaysia Bhdhas extended a seven-year term loan facility of RM20mil to Palm Energy SdnBhd to finance the construction of a 9.8MW biomass based co-generationpower plant in Lahat Datu, Sabah.The RM30mil power plant – believed to be the first in Malaysia to recycleoil palm waste, such as empty fruit bunches and palm kernel shells, togenerate electricity – will supply power for Kwantas Corp Bhd, Palm Energy’s parent company operating in Lahat Datu and its surrounding areas.Bank Industri Group managing director, Md Noor Yusoff said yesterday: “This is the bank’s first venture into a biomass renewable energy conceptproject, which capitalises on the abundant fuel resources from oil palmwaste as an alternative source of fuel.’’For this year, the bank is targeting a loans disbursement of RM35mil forthe environmental sector, he said.Noor said the bank was also targeting other sub-sectors under theenvironment sector, including wastewater, solid waste management andpollution control projects.“We plan to disburse about RM200mil in loans for the environmental sectorover the next five years,’’ he said after the term-loan facility signingceremony between Bank Industri and Palm Energy in Kuala Lumpur.Meanwhile, Kwantas Corp group managing director Steve Kwan said PalmEnergy’s power plant is expected to make savings of between RM8mil andRM10mil a year in fuel costs for the group.Kwantas’ core activities include a 70,000-acre oil palm plantation, a palmoil refinery and a stone quarry in Lahat Datu.It is listed on the KLSE main board.The power plant, located near Kwantas’ palm oil refinery is scheduled forcompletion next month.Kwan said: “We are also discussing with power purchasers such as SabahElectricity Sdn Bhd the possibility of selling our excess electricitysupply to cater for the increasing power demand in Lahat Datu.’’

01 March 2002 (Business Times) - PRIMARY Industries Minister Datuk Seri DrLim Keng Yaik will head a crude palm oil (CPO) trade mission to five WestAsian countries for two weeks starting on March 16.A Government official said Dr Lim will lead the mission to Syria, Iraq,Turkey, Egypt and Morocco to promote the commodity to the region as wellas expand Malaysia’s CPO market .

Tuesday, March 5, 2002 (The Star) - KUALA LUMPUR: The first visit by ahigh-level North Korean delegation to Malaysia has been marked with thesigning of two agreements between both countries after discussions betweenthe two governments.The two agreements were on palm oil credit and payment and a culturalexchange programme.Primary Industries Minister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik and Culture, Artsand Tourism Minister Datuk Kadir Sheikh Fadzir signed on be-half ofMalaysia.North Korean Peoples Assembly supreme leader Kim Yong-nam is in thecountry, leading a 33-member delegation for a three-day official visit inan effort to strengthen bilateral ties.The delegation, which arrived on Sunday, was given a state welcome atParliament Square and received on arrival by Yang di-Pertuan Agong TuankuSyed Sirajuddin Syed Putra Jamalullail.Kim later had bilateral discussions with Prime Minister Datuk Seri DrMahathir Mohamad in Putrajaya.Acting Foreign Minister Datuk Azmi Khalid said the palm oil loanagreement, worth US$10mil (RM38mil), was the second such credit agreementwith North Korea.North Korea, he said, invited Malaysian companies to explore into energyand petroleum field as its resources had yet to be fully explored.He said both leaders had similar views on current international andregional issues and Malaysia expressed full support to reunification ofthe two Koreas.He also said both parties agreed to increase bilateral trade. The tradevolume was RM31mil a year.Meanwhile, in a state banquet at Istana Negara, the King expressedMalaysia’s full support for the steps being taken by North and South Koreatowards resolving their differences and achieving unification.Bernama reports that the King also hopes Kim’s visit would furtherstrengthen relations between the Malaysian and Korean peoples in culturaland other fields.