10/10/2011 (Bangkok Post) - The proportion of palm-derived biofuel in biodiesel is being increased to 5% from 4% in order to help absorb a crude palm oil surplus, the Energy Ministry said yesterday.

Total crude palm oil (CPO) stocks reached 281,000 tonnes in August and are still close to that level, compared with the normal monthly average of 150,000 tonnes, according to ministry officials.

B5 biodiesel will be available at pumps nationwide in place of B4 from Oct 21 until December.

The change is expected to cut CPO stocks to 200,000 tonnes after December, after which the ministry will review conditions before deciding whether to continue promoting production of B5.

Blue-chip changes

STOCKS: The Stock Exchange of Thailand is making changes to the SET50 and SET100 indices as a result of the merger of two constituents.

PTT Aromatics and Refining and PTT Chemical are merging to become a new company, called PTT Global Chemical Plc (PTTGC), which will be added to the SET50 and SET100 indices, while PTTAR and PTTCH will be deleted.

Five securities held in reserve for each index as replacements will fill the vacancy in the SET50 and SET100 indices. The changes will become effective on the date that PTTGC is listed on the main board.

Trading in PTTAR and PTTCH will be suspended from Oct 11-20 at the companies' request in order to prepare for the allocation of shares in the merged company.

Forecast retained

ECONOMY: Credit Suisse has maintained its forecast for Thailand's economic growth this year, though it says that flooding across much of the country could trim gross domestic product by as much as 0.3 percentage points.

''The final impact will depend on how much the government spends on reconstruction and how soon production activities can resume,'' Credit Suisse wrote yesterday in a report.

The bank expects Thailand's economy to grow by 3.5% this year, lower than most other forecasts that put GDP growth in a range of 4% to 4.5%.