Berita Arkib

JAKARTA, Oct 17 Asia Pulse - Indonesia will send a trade mission to theChina in November as part of efforts to boost exports of crude palm oil(CPO) to that country, The Jakarta Post reported.The paper quoted chairman of the Indonesian Palm Oil Producers'Association (Gapki) Derom Bangun as saying the trade delegation will meetwith about 250 Chinese businessmen on Nov 9 to woo them to buy more CPOfrom Indonesia.China as one of the world's largest palm oil importers will raise its palmoil imports to 1.4 million tons this year from 1.1 million tons last year,Derom said.He added that Indonesia hoped to gain at least 40 per cent of theadditional palm oil imports.Indonesia had accounted for 330,000 tons, or about 30 per cent of China'stotal 1.1 million tons of imports.Indonesia's CPO production is expected to reach 7.2 million tons thisyear, compared with 6.5 million tons last year.

KUALA LUMPUR, Sat. 21 October 2001 (Business Times) — The Government willprovide insurance coverage for ships chartered by crude palm oil exportersto transport the commodity to Pakistan and the Middle East following therefusal of insurers to cover the vessels.

October 20, 2001 (The Star ) - WEST Malaysian Oil Palm Growers’Association president Tan Sri Dr Jesse J.C. Chang has been taken bysurprise by the generous incentives proposed in the Budget 2002 foragriculture companies, especially those in the plantation sector.“We have never been treated this way before. This is wonderful. The waythe government is beefing up the agriculture sector is better than what iscurrently taking place in the US,’’ he said.Chang said that he described the proposed 5-year income tax exemptioncould act as a “buffer” for agriculture players to improve theirproductivity, which would enable them to compete with producers from othercountries in the region.He said the oil palm sector had been experiencing rising costs offertilisers as well as machinery. In the past 10 years, machinery cost hadrisen by 100% and agriculture firms did not receive subsidy, as companiesin the US did, Chang said.He added the tax exemption would help players replace old machinery andbuy more fertilisers.On the RM10mil aid for promoting training of modern agriculture workers,Chang said this would help promote cost-efficiency in plantationoperations.On the 70% tax exemption for companies reinvesting on product-basedresources, Chang said the incentive would encourage players to put theirmoney back into their core operations and support their move to ventureinto downstream activities and the production of value-added foodproducts.

MANILA, Oct 17 Asia Pulse - The Philippines has joined its ASEAN partnersin exerting all their political and trade influence in the internationalcommunity to block efforts by the European Union (EU) to curb SoutheastAsia's vegetable oils and fats exports using food hygiene as alibi.Agriculture Secretary Leonardo Montemayor said this was the consensusreached by his counterparts from Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos,Cambodia, Brunei Darussalam, Singapore, Indonesia and Myanmar during the23rd meeting of ASEAN Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry (AMAF) heldrecently in Medan, Indonesia.He said his colleagues has tasked Indonesian agriculture minister BungaranSaragih, AMAF chair, to formally request the European Commission torescind a controversial directive, which if carried out, will severelyrestrict oils and fats exports from ASEAN member nations.The controversial European Community Council directive provides thatedible oils and fats such as cooking oil, refined palm oil and all otherfood grade oils and fats sold in bulk should be transported in dedicatedtanks and vessels to ensure they don't get contaminated.If adopted, Montemayor said, edible oils and fats exporters would facedifficulty looking for dedicated tanks and vessels and incur higherfreight charges, making their products more expensive and less competitivein the world market.Under current practices, these foodstuffs are loaded in specificcompartments of vessels whose prior load needs not be edible oils and fatsas long as they are internationally recognized as acceptable priorcargoes.The directive is contained in a draft code of hygienic practice for thetransport of food in bulk and semi-packaged food, which Europe sponsoredand submitted to the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) for approval, butwhich was shelved.CAC is a world body that sets and regulates food and agriculturestandards, provides guidelines on food safety, food transport, foodstorage and other matters.In its recent meeting in Geneva last July, the CAC instead adopted theCode of Hygienic Practice for the Transport of Foodstuff in Bulk andSemi-Packed Foodstuff, which clarified that the EC-supported draft codewas not applicable and that dedicated transport was not the norm in thetransport of edible fats and oils.Despite the setback, EU continues to lobby in various international fora,including the Codex, to have its controversial directive adopted,insisting that the move was a hygienic measure against possible foodcontamination.However, ASEAN member nations oppose the move, saying that if implemented,it would be too restrictive and would have negative impact on the region'smulti-million dollar edible oils and fats industry."The Philippines can't take this issue sitting down. Along with ASEAN, wewill muster enough support from friendly nations just so this directivewill not be carried out," Montemayor said.He added that the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia would talk to otherIslamic countries who are members of the Codex to support the ASEAN standon the controversial directive.Montemayor said the Philippines and Thailand will also lobby ASEAN's causebefore the South American countries to gain their sympathy and to get therequired vote at the CAC to overrule the directive.At present, Indonesia and Malaysia refined palm oil exports wouldadversely be affected if the directive will be adopted and implemented.The DA said the Philippines would not, as yet, be affected with thedirective considering that its current oil exports to Europe consistsmainly of crude coconut oil, which is not covered by the measure."But it is the Philippines' and ASEAN's interest to have the directiverescinded not only as an expression of ASEAN solidarity but also becausewe plan to export cooking oil in the very near future," Montemayor said.

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Malaysian palm oil futures broke a keyresistance level and edged higher by midday on Thursday due to technicalcovering and talk of market-friendly export figures, traders said.Cargo surveyors ITS and SGS are scheduled to release the export figuresfor the first 20 days of October next Monday.At the midday break, the new benchmark third-month January contract wasup 11 ringgit at 951 ringgit ($250.26) a tonne after trading as high as956 ringgit.Overall volume was moderate at 1,534 lots."I am sure the market will close above 946 ringgit," said one technicalanalyst, referring to the key resistance level which the market hadbroken."People are also optimistic about the export figures. My estimates sayexports can reach 850,000 tonnes," he added.The analyst pegged support at 920 ringgit and new resistance at 980ringgit.At the physical sector, traders said buyers from India showed interest tobuy crude palm oil (CPO) after New Delhi cut the import price of CPO to$286 a tonne from $337 fixed in August.The base price of RBD olein was also cut, but higher compared with CPO at$307 a tonne from $372 previously.Traders said Indian importers preferred to buy CPO than olein because oflower base prices."India's interest for CPO is there. I heard deals with Indian importershave been done in the past few days, but I have no details about theamount," said one trader.In physical palm oil, offers for October crude palm oil for the southernregion stood at 860 ringgit a tonne against bids of 855. A deal wasreported at 850 ringgit.Offers for CPO for the central region stood at 865 ringgit against bids of855. A deal was done at 855 ringgit.Offers for November CPO for the south and central regions were at 880ringgit against bids at 865. There were no deals.Among refined products October RBD palm oil was offered at $235 a tonne,November at $240 and December at $247.50.Offers for October RBD olein were at $242.50, with November at $247.50 andDecember at $255.October RBD palm stearin was offered at $237.50 a tonne and October palmfatty acid distillate at $205.

WASHINGTON, Oct 17 (Reuters) - U.S. Agriculture Department on Wednesdayforecast Brazil to significantly lower its plantings of cotton and cornduring the 2001/02 season as more farmers turn to soybeans.

12 October 2001 (Business Times) - Only about 1,000ha of oil palmplantations have been cleared for replanting since the Governmentinitiated the programme last April.

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 16 (Bernama) -- Palm oil biomass projects are not in thefast track as industry players tend to be complacent due to the presenceof other abundant raw materials, said Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB)director-general Datuk Dr Yusof Basiron.

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 16 (Bernama) -- The initial capital outlay to furtherdevelop the oil palm biomass-based pulp and paper industry may be immensebut the long term benefits are tremendous, said Dr Mohamad Husin, aprincipal research officer from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB).

ISLAMABAD (10/13/2001) - Pakistan Oil Development Board (PODB) hasinitiated a plan to enhance edible oil production by promoting cultivationof canola to meet domestic requirement of 1.9 million tonnes every year.About 0.5 million tonne is produced by the local growers while theremaining 1.2 million tonnes is imported to bridge the gap between theproduce and consumption.According to official sources the PODB has developed new varieties ofcanola with indigenous resources. These varieties include synthetic aswell as hybrid varieties. Local canola varieties have performed betterthan the imported varieties cultivated at various locations in the countryunder difference agro-ecological conditions and these local varieties arefully acclimatised to local environment.Local canola seed production has resulted in self-sufficiency in canolaseed requirements and now there is no need to import canola seed by publicor private sectors. Local canola seed production has reduced the cost ofthe seed providing a relief to the growers.Local seed of synthetic types costs Rs 50 as compared to the internationalprice of Rs 180 to 250 per kg. Local hybrid seed of canola costs Rs 150.There is a vast potential to increase production of canola oil and mainthrust is being laid for replacement of mustard acreage by canolacultivation.Mustard crop is being cultivated on about 700,000 acres annuallyreplacement of which will enhance canola acreage to about 1.0 millionacres thus enhancing the canola production to 200,000 tons valued at Rs7.5 billion per annum.Canola crop can be grown throughout the country and it requires minimumthree irrigation at the time of its sowing, flowering and seed formation.Shattering in canola can be controlled by harvesting when 35 percent podsget mature. Canola produce has an attractive market and its disposal doesnot pose any problem unlike previous years.Breeders have worked to improve the rapeseed and mustard crops and "doublezero" or more precisely "double low" canola varieties have been developed.Canola is mustard but the above two compounds are within safe limits ofpalatability making it a premium product for human health. The levels oferucic acid in canola are less than 5 percent and that of glucosinolatesas less than 30 micro mole/gram.These improved mustard varieties were given the name of "Canola" fromCanadian Oil as the original work on canola development was undertaken inCanada. Now these "double low" varieties are familiar with the name ofcanola all over the world.Oil quality of canola is superior and comparable to that of world's bestoils. Oil are fats with two types of fatty acids; saturated andunsaturated, the latter being easily absorbable by the human body.Contrarily, the saturated fats accumulate in human body and causedifferent diseases expect in case of hard exercises where these getcatabolised.According to international research by doctors and researchers, Canola oilhas unique property of reducing the blood cholesterol levels thusminimising the risk of coronary heart diseases.In Pakistan, canola cultivation started in 1985-86 on experimental basiswith imported varieties. Commercial cultivation of canola started inPakistan in 1995 when it was planted on 100,000 acres compared to 8,000acres of 1994. Now canola has become a popular oilseed crop inPakistan.-APP

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 16 (Bernama) -- Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) today signedtwo renewable energy purchase agreements (REPA) with Bumibiopower Sdn Bhdand Jana Landfill Sdn Bhd under the small renewable energy programme(SREP).Under the agrement, TNB agreed to purchase electricity from Bumibiopowerat 16.7 sen per kWh (kilowatt hour) for 21 years, and from Jana Landfillat 16.5 sen per kWh for 15 years.

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 16 (Bernama) -- Entrepreneurs in the oil palm industryshould explore the exciting potential for oil palm-based animal feed, saidMohd Yunus Ismail, feedmill co-ordinator at the Malaysian AgricultureResearch and Development Institute (MARDI).