Business Times

Monday, June 30, 2008

OBSERVATIONS: The Kuala Lumpur CPO futures market went on another roller-coaster ride last week, plunging at first on external factors and then rallying smartly in late trade, also on external factors - mainly the surge of crude oil to a new high.

The actively-trade September 2008 contract was sold down an intra-week low of RM3,490 a tonne at first, and then bidded up above the RM3,600 level. The contract settled last Friday at RM3,623, up RM72 or 2.03 per cent over the week.

This market, on its way up the price chart, took no notice of the crop’s uninspiring fundamentals. Swiss export monitor Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS) put June 1 -25 exports of palm oil at 923,345 tonnes, down 12.3 per cent compared with that for the corresponding period in May.

And if…

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The Star

Monday June 30, 2008

CRUDE PALM OIL

CRUDE palm oil (CPO) futures on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives fell to a 3½-month low in an early round of weakness last week, spurred by losses in the Chicago Board of Trade soyoil futures and a downward correction in crude oil prices.

The downward move was altered in mid-week by a strong wave of short-covering and speculative buying following news of Indonesia raising its export tax for palm oil from 15% to 20% effective July.

The sharply higher soyoil price on Thursday and record crude oil prices above US$142 a barrel on Friday helped push the market to a seven-week high.

Lower exports in the first 25 days of June had limited impact on trading. According to Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS), Malaysia’s palm oil exports for the 25 days fell…

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Saturday, June 28, 2008
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian crude palm oil futures finished up 2.5 per cent on Friday, helped by a fresh peak in crude oil prices and short-covering. Oil leapt to a new record high near $142 a barrel on Friday, as tumbling global stock markets triggered a wider commodities rally.

“There’s widespread short-covering across the market,” a trader said. “The firmness in crude oil also helped support the momentum.” At the close, the benchmark September contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange was up 88 ringgit to 3,623 ringgit ($1,111) a tonne, the day’s high. But some traders said high stock levels were weighing on the market.

“The market is caught in an unenviable position,” said a trader with a local commodities broker. “External factors like soy oil and crude oil support but the lack of further demand is leading to looming stockpiles and weakening…

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JAKARTA (Thomson Financial) - Indonesia will impose an export tax rate of 20 percent for July on crude palm oil (CPO), up from 15 percent in June, following the CPO price increase over the past month, the Trade Ministry said on Friday.

According to the current progressive tax system, the 20 percent export rate applies when the average CPO price in Rotterdam over the preceding month hits $1,200 a tonne or higher but is less than $1,300.

The government will impose a maximum tax rate of 25 percent if the CPO price touches $1,300 per tonne. If the price falls below $1,200 per tonne, the government will use the 15 percent tax rate.

The ministry said the CPO price in Rotterdam in the past month averaged $1,220 per tonne, against $1,181 per tonne a month before.

The…

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By Joram Kanner

June 27 (Bloomberg) — CSM NV, the world’s largest supplier of lactic acid and ingredients to bakeries, said raw-material costs may exceed its initial estimate for this year and last after the price of palm oil and wheat increased.

The expenses will be “at least the amount we indicated in 2007,” CSM Chief Executive Officer Gerard Hoetmer said in an interview June 25. The company in October projected its additional raw-material costs at about 190 million euros ($299 million). The estimate is a “number you make at a certain point in time.”

Raw materials and packaging account for more than half of costs at CSM, which sells bread mixes to bakeries and muffins to restaurants including Starbucks Corp. Prices of rice, corn and wheat have reached record levels this year and the price of palm oil has…

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The Star

Friday June 27, 2008

By DAVID TAN

GEORGE TOWN: Oriental Holdings Bhd has drawn up a plan to expand its oil palm plantation business, which also includes a possible listing of the division.

Group chairman Datuk Loh Cheng Yean said the company aimed to increase the plantation size to 60,000ha from 40,000ha now in two to three years.

“Some RM500mil to RM600mil would need to be invested. We are looking at acquiring more oil palm plantations in Asia,” she said after the company’s AGM yesterday.

Apart from Malaysia, Loh said the group had oil palm plantations in Indonesia.

In 2007, the group’s plantations produced a record crop of 512,378 tonnes compared with 399,990 tonnes the year before. The yield in Malaysia, however, fell to 92,956 tonnes versus 104,691 tonnes in 2006.

Loh said the drop was…

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The Star

Thursday June 26, 2008

By ZAZALI MUSA

JOHOR BARU: Sindora Bhd sees the plantation, shipping and insurance brokerage businesses becoming more important as the engines of growth for the group.

Chairman Tan Sri Muhammad Ali Hashim said activities from these sectors were inter-related and added synergistic value to the group, which would be a basis for its business direction.

“We are focusing on the three sectors to further grow the group but at the same time we will identify other sectors that can add value to the group,” Ali told reporters after Sindora AGM on Wednesday.

From left: Sindora MD Rozan Mohd Sa’at, Tan Sri Muhammad Ali Hashim and director Tan Sri Arshad Ayub.

He said the company was confident it would continue to perform well in the current financial year despite the uncertainties in the global economy.

Ali…

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Renewable energy will mean zero waste
YUTHANA PRAIWAN

Kanjanadit Palm Oil Co (KPO) is investing 250 million baht to expand its palm oil capacity and develop a renewable energy facility at its palm oil factory in Surat Thani.

By using the biomass gasification system (BGS), KPO aims to achieve its zero-waste strategy by 2010, said managing director Somyot Suksawat.

KPO signed a technology transfer agreement yesterday with Chinese-based Bestwork Co to help develop the biomass system. KPO will invest 120 million baht in the biomass power project scheduled to start operating by 2010.

The facility would generate 1.2 megawatts of power in the first phase, which requires an investment of 60 million baht, said Mr Somyot, adding that the operation was expected to be launched in late 2008.

By year-end, the company would invest an additional 60 million baht for the 1.2-megawatt second phase of…

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MUMBAI (Thomson Financial) - Moody’s Investors Service said it has a positive rating outlook for the Asia Pacific’s rated palm-oil industry over the next 12 to 18 months after a rapid rise and continued high prices for crude palm oil (CPO) in the past 18 months strengthened balance sheets of Asian palm-oil producers, who responded by buying more plantations and increased planting of greenfield properties.

Peter Choy, Moody’s vice president, senior credit officer and the lead author of the report, said most issuers are now more inclined to focus on organic growth, to delay their downstream, bio-diesel projects due to higher feedstock costs and to avoid new purchases amid higher asset prices.

‘The positive outlook for the sector will not necessarily translate into upgrades for rated firms because the market is at a cyclical peak and some issuers are still integrating earlier expansions or…

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Wednesday June 25 2008

By Niu Shuping

BEIJING, June 25 (Reuters) - Chinese authorities have impounded palm oil stocks in a northern city after a major trading company’s boss vanished, leaving a question mark over at least a hundred million yuan in prepayments from clients, traders said on Wednesday.

Clients of the Zhejiang X & K Import and Export Co. Ltd in the port city of Tianjin, also known as Xiekai, said the firm’s general manager Wang Wei has been out of contact since last week.

Courts sealed about 70,000 tonnes of palm oil held in tanks in Tianjin, as well as some in tanks in the southern port of Guangzhou and at least one cargo that had yet to unload, traders said.

“At least one cargo of about 20,000 tonnes was sealed in Tianjin last week…

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