By Naveen Thukral

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Sime Darby, the world’s largest listed palm oil producer is looking to develop plantations in Africa and plans to build new palm oil processing plants in eastern Europe to exploit booming edible oil demand.

Chief Executive Ahmad Zubir Murshid said on Monday the company had offers to develop 200,000 acres of rubber and palm plantation in Liberia, in the West Coast of Africa.

The price of palm oil, used as a cooking oil and in products ranging from cosmetics to cookies and biofuels, has almost doubled since beginning 2007 on surging demand from the food and fuel sectors.

Sime Darby, Malaysia’s biggest listed firm, has short-listed three countries in eastern Europe to build downstream palm oil units which could include refineries and margarine plants.

The company will also increase production capacity…

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Mumbai, Mar 25 Domestic prices of major edible oils, mainly soya oil, mustard oil, and palm oil may remain higher this week, mainly on speculative buying supported by firm overseas Markets.

Domestic spot prices of soya oil and RBD palm oil in Mumbai have recovered smartly to trade at around Rs 635 per 10 kg and Rs 570 per 10 kg from the previous week.

This was despite the fact that the government had brought down import duties on crude palm oil (CPO) to 20% from 45% and refined palm oil and RBD palmolein to 27.5% from 52.5%.

Mustard oil spot was quoted higher at Rs 608 per 10 kg on continued buying interest, as farmers are holding back stocks expecting high prices due to a production shortfall. On the NCDEX, the soya oil April contract closed higher at Rs 621.50 on Monday, up…

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By Nasriah Darus

KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 (Bernama) — Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd’s move to utilise 10 percent of its vast landbank surrounding the KL International Airport with oil palm as an alternative revenue booster is timely now that prices are reaching record levels.

MAHB managing director, Datuk Seri Bashir Ahmad Abdul Majid, said the airport operator was finding it harder to impose higher aeronautical charges.

As such, sales of oil palm could beef up MAHB’s coffers.

MAHB has about 9,600 hectares (24,000 acres) of landbank around KL International Airport (KLIA), with 10 percent of it cultivated with oil palm.

“In the past, most airports depended on aeronautical revenue charges to run the airport. But that time has gone, it is becoming harder to increase aeronautical charges and costs are going up.

“To build an airport is very expensive, therefore airports have to resort to other resources…

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March 25 Indonesia, the world’s biggest palm oil producer, will double the tax on exports of the vegetable oil next month, in a bid to ensure domestic supplies are adequate.

The rate on crude palm oil shipments will be raised to 20%, Erfandi Tabrani, a director for agricultural exports at the trade ministry, said on Tuesday.

Record raw-material prices have stoked inflation globally, prompting governments to stockpile, restrict exports, and import to safeguard supplies. While India has curbed overseas sales of wheat, rice, and edible oils, South Korea said on Tuesday, it will end import tariffs on corn and milling wheat to cool food prices.

Palm oil futures in Malaysia, a global benchmark, had their biggest gain in three weeks on concern, the doubling in the export tax may curb supply, even as demand rises in China…

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Indonesia, the world’s largest palm oil producer, said on Tuesday it would raise the tax on exports of the commodity next month to 20%

Feiwen Rong/ Bloomberg

Singapore: Palm oil prices in Malaysia, the global benchmark, rose for the second day on expectations the doubling in export tax by Indonesia may restrain supply even as demand for the vegetable oil increases in India and China.

Indonesia, the world’s largest palm oil producer, said on Tuesday it would raise the tax on exports of the commodity next month to 20%. Malaysia’s palm oil exports gained 10% in the first 25 days of March compared with the previous month, Intertek, an independent surveyor, said.

“Such tax increase will discourage Indonesian players from exporting palm oil and will put more constraints on the global supply,” Fordyanto Widjaja, analyst at Morgan Stanley…

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KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian crude palm oil futures rose 6.3 percent on Monday as funds piled back into commodity markets after a sell-off last week, dealers said.

But investors later booked profits, pulling down palm oil prices to Friday’s closing levels despite expectations that India duty cuts on palm oil products last week will see the market turn up again.

Used in products ranging from cooking oil to biofuels, palm oil remains roughly 25 percent lower than last month’s historic highs of 4,486 ringgit but has begun to turn up after India cut duties on crude and refined palm oils last Thursday.

The benchmark June contract KPOM8 on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange rose as much as 211 ringgit to 3,541 ringgit ($1,103) a tonne before settling up 10 ringgit at 3,340 ringgit.

“The short-term outlook could…

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Business Times

Tuesday - March 25, 2008

CPO FUTURES

Crude palm oil(CPO) futures prices on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed mixed yesterday as late profit-taking erased some of the earlier sharp gains, dealers said.

They said that prices were strong in the first half of trading which saw the benchmark third-month June 2008 contract surged to RM3,505 per tonne.

“It’s a round of technical correction and profit-taking,” one of the dealers said.

The commodity’s prices were also influenced by the weakening crude oil prices in the global market, he said.
Crude oil prices went down US$1(US$1=RM3.21) to US$100 per barrel yesterday following profit-taking on the recent gains.

The crude oil prices had recorded an all-time high of US$111.80 per barrel on March 17.

Palm oil prices usually move in tandem with that of crude oil as both could be used as components of biofuel, an alternative in the face of high…

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KUALA LUMPUR, March 24 (Bernama) — The Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities will review the palm based cooking oil subsidy scheme in May this year, one year after its implementation.

“What you have to do now is to give me arguments why it should not continue. On the other hand, if we do not abolish it, the next best thing is to modify the scheme to be more palatable to you,” the Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities Datuk Dr Peter Chin Fah Kui told an audience of estate owners here this evening.

The Malaysian Estate Owners Association has been calling for the abolishment of the subsidy, which is funded through the cess levy collected from them.

The association in a statement, pointed out that for the period from June last year to February this year, estate owners contributed RM972 million to subsidise palm-based…

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PALM OIL PRICES ON BURSA MALAYSIA DERIVATIVES BHD
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Source from The Star

The Crude Palm Oil Futures Closing: Monday, 24 March 2008

(Prices are in RM/tonne)

MONTH

OPEN

HIGH

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Crude palm oil futures traded on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives bounced back as positive Malaysian palm oil exports for March 1-20 and India’s reduction of import duty on palm oil imports provided the market with a powerful short-covering rally.

Societe Generale de Surveillance said on Friday that palm oil exports for the first 20 days of March rose 8.9% to 824,563 tonnes compared to 757,070 tonnes in the same period a month ago.

India, the world’s biggest vegetable oil buyer after China, on Thursday cut import duties on some edible oils, including crude palm, to improve supplies and ease prices as inflation hit a 10-month high. The import duty on crude palm oil was cut to 20 percent from 45 percent, while that on refined palm oil was trimmed to 27.5 percent from 52.5 percent, the finance ministry said.

At midday’s close crude…

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