by G.M. Teoh

Monday March 31, 2008

CRUDE PALM OIL

CRUDE palm oil futures traded on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives rebounded strongly on aggressive short covering and fresh buying boosted by India’s move to cut import duties on palm oil by almost half.

Bullish news linked to the two-week long Argentinian grain farmers strike that shut down the main grain ports and resulted in soybean and soyoil shippers declaring force majeure on one million tonnes of soybean due for China, helped heat up the bullish sentiment.

A bomb attack on a major Iraqi crude oil pipeline and renewed bullishness in crude oil prices above the US$107 a barrel, gave bearish traders excuse to close out short positions.

Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS) estimated Malaysian palm oil exports for March 1 to March 25 higher by 14.8% at 1.037 million…

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Firm to import 80,000 tonnes of oil extracted there; move to help it beat rising prices, bridge deficit in India

Ajayan

Kochi: Edible oils producer KS Oils Ltd has bought 50,000 acres (20,500ha) of palm plantation in Indonesia with an estimated investment of about Rs230 crore over three years, as it plans to import 80,000 tonnes of the oil into India from there.

The Morena, Madhya Pradesh-based company, which is a leader in the packaged mustard oil business in India, had bought a three-year-old 800-acre palm plantation in that country just four months ago.

KS Oils managing director Sanjay Agarwal said the palm trees in the new plantation it bought will start bearing fruits in three years.

The oil extracted from Indonesia will be transported to manufacturing and refining plants in India. It will help KS Oils…

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JOHOR BARU: Consumers will suffer if the ceiling on the price of cooking oil is lifted to help oil palm producers.

Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Samad said the man on the street would be affected if there was no cap on the price of cooking oil.

He was responding yesterday to the Malaysian Estate Owners’ Association’s request for the ceiling to be scrapped.

It was reported on Thursday that association president Boon Weng Siew said that the price control mechanism under the Cooking Oil Subsidy Scheme (COSS) was causing the industry to suffer.

Boon had also claimed that the RM2.50 per kg cap (about half the global price) had led to smuggling and an artificial shortage.

Under COSS, a monthly cess is imposed on oil palm producers with more than 40ha of plantation based on the average price of crude palm oil.

Shahrir said…

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By DANNY YAP

MOST analysts are upbeat on Al-Hadharah Boustead Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), saying there should be further upside to the stock’s performance.

A local analyst said while market sentiment remained weak, the Al-Hadharah Boustead REIT could continue to perform well in the medium to long-term.

Despite uncertainties in the US economy, industry experts are bullish on plantation as palm oil supply is still tight and expect CPO prices to trade above RM2,500 per tonne – AFP

“Our confidence in the REIT stems from the prevailing positive trend in the global commodities markets and buoyant crude palm oil (CPO) prices,” he told StarBiz.

Last Friday, the CPO price closed at RM3,543 per tonne and commodity price is expected toremain firm in the near-term.

Currently, Al-Hadharah Boustead REIT was the only oil palm plantation REIT listed on

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KUALA LUMPUR, Mar 30, 2008 (Dow Jones Commodities News Select via Comtex) — – Malaysia’s palm oil exports in March rose 15.5% on month to 1.26 million metric tons, cargo surveyor Intertek Agri Services said Monday.

The estimate is slightly higher than market expectations of exports between 1.15 million and 1.25 million tons.

China is estimated to be the largest Malaysian palm oil buyer by volume in March at 341,914 tons followed by the Netherlands at 142,447 tons and Pakistan at 126,105 tons.

Malaysia’s palm oil exports in February were estimated by Intertek at 1.09 million tons, for January and December they were estimated at 998,344 tons and 1.43 million tons, respectively.

Another surveyor, SGS (Malaysia) Bhd., is expected to release March export estimates later in the day.

-By Sameer Mohindru, Dow Jones Newswires; (603) 2692 5254; sameer.mohindru@dowjones.com

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Business Times

Friday - March 28, 2008

CPO FUTURES

Crude palm oil (CPO) futures prices on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed lower yesterday on profit-taking after two days of strong gains, dealers said.

They said the prices had rallied recently due to the release of positive export data of the local palm oil products by cargo surveyors and the bullish soyaoil prices amid supply concern. At the close yesterday, April 2008 fell RM66 to RM3,584 per tonne, May 2008 declined RM66 to RM3,635, June 2008 slipped RM60 to RM3,640 and July 2008 eased RM69 to RM3,630.

Volume fell to 9,266 lots from 21,920 lots on Wednesday while open interests increased to 42,401 contracts from 40,655 contracts previously.

On the physical market, April South edged up to RM3,670 per tonne from RM3,650 per tonne on Wednesday.

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New Straits Times

Thursday - March 27, 2008

by Evangeline Majawat

Kuala Lumpur

Palm oil producers want the price control on cooking oil to be abolished.

Malaysian Estate Owners’ Association president Boon Weng Siew said the price control mechanism under the Cooking Oil Subsidy Scheme (COSS) was causing the industry to suffer.

Responding to Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad’s suggestion to review price control and subsidies, Boon said artificial price controls led to shortages in the market.

Cooking oil is capped at RM2.50 per kg, half the global market price.

“Price control leads to smuggling and artificial shortage such as the one in January,” he said.
Under COSS, a monthly cess is imposed on palm oil producers with plantations of more than 40 hectares based on the average price of crude palm oil (CPO).

The…

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The Star

Friday - March 28, 2008

by Jack Wong

Kuching

Swee Joo Bhd expects to take delivery of three chemical tankers in the next three to six months to boost its business of transporting crude palm oil (CPO) and related products to China and India.

Managing director Sim Mong Hong said the company planned to invest RM500mil in more tankers and container vessels in the next few years to expand its fleet.

The group now owns 34 vessels, comprising a 7,000-tonne chemical tanker, 15 container ships, 10 general cargo ships and eight support vessels, that ply domestic, intra-Asean and international routes.

Sim said the company invested US$50mil in a 7,000-tonne, 11,000-tonne and 12,700-tonne chemical tanker.

“The three tankers will transport CPO and related products between Malaysia and China as well as Indonesia and India,” he…

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Business Times

Thursday - March 27, 2008

CPO FUTURES

Crude palm oil (CPO) futures prices on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed sharply higher yesterday, riding on the bullish soyoil prices following tight global supplies, said dealers.

The benchmark third-month June 2008 contract surged RM200 to RM3,700 per tonne from RM3,500 per tonne on Tuesday, they said.

“Investors are spurred towards buying palm oil due. Many are turning to this alternative as soyoil supplies becomes limited, also attributed by the crisis in Argentina, the world’s number three exporter of soy,” one dealer said.

A strike by farmers in Argentina has already triggered a force majeure - a contract clause allowing a supplier to forego their obligation in extreme unforeseen circumstances - in soy and soyoil shipments to China.

Indonesia is also slated to double its CPO export taxes to 20 percent in April, and this…

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The Star

Friday March 28, 2008

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia may see slower economic growth should the Government continue to subsidise fuel and other basic items in an environment of rising commodity prices, said Institute of Strategic and International Studies director-general Dr Mahani Zainal Abidin.

“There is always a trade-off between economic growth and subsidies,” she said at the launch of the Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2008 yesterday.

Dr Mahani said the sharp increase in subsidies as a result of higher commodity prices would utilise more resources that could have been put to better use to generate economic growth.

Malaysia, she said, was benefiting from rising prices of crude oil and crude palm oil (CPO), the commodities that were boosting the Government coffers.

However, the Government would have to spend more on subsidies as commodity prices escalated, and…

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