By Ranjeetha Pakiam

Bloomberg

18 May, 2011

IOI Corp., Malaysia’s second-biggest palm oil planter by market value, said third-quarter profit climbed almost 20 percent, as higher prices for the cooking oil and contributions from property boosted earnings.

Net income climbed to 656.7 million ringgit ($215 million), or 10.25 sen a share, in the three months ended March 31, from 549.02 million ringgit, or 8.6 sen, a year earlier, the company said in a statement today. Sales increased 38 percent to 4.34 billion ringgit.

“The group is expected to perform satisfactorily in the current financial year underpinned by strong palm oil and palm kernel prices and a resilient property market,” IOI said in the statement. The group generates more than 7 percent of its revenue from real estate, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Read the rest of this entry »

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The Star

17 May, 2011

Four plantation companies saw their net profits increased by leaps and bounds for the first three months of this year due to higher crude palm oil (CPO) prices despite lower fresh fruit bunches (FFB) production.

IOI Corp Bhd net profit for its third quarter ended March 31 rose 19.6% to RM656.7mil against the same quarter last year due to improvement in the group’s overall operating profit as well as increased contribution from jointly-controlled companies.

Revenue for the quarter improved by 37.8% to RM4.34bil. Earnings per share increased to 10.25 sen from 8.6 sen previously.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday, IOI said the plantation division reported a 16% growth in operating profit to RM328.2mil compared with RM282.0mil in the same period a year ago. Read the rest of this entry »

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By Edy Sarif

The Star

14 May, 2011

Despite the strengthening of the ringgit against the US dollar, the current CPO price of about RM3,300 per tonne is still good for local oil palm companies.

An analyst tells StarBizWeek that although the local currency is getting stronger against the greenback, the current price is still much better than last year’s average of RM2,740.

“The companies’ earnings are still not affected much as they are still gaining more from the current CPO price,” he says.

Another analyst says she is still bullish that CPO price will be above RM3,000 per tonne this year, backed by higher demand from the international market. Read the rest of this entry »

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Bernama

10 May, 2011

Malaysia’s palm oil stocks, production and exports rose in April this year, while imports declined compared with the previous month.

In a statement Tuesday, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board said total stocks, comprising crude palm oil (CPO) and processed palm oil, rose by 3.49 per cent to 1.671 million tonnes in April from 1.614 million tonnes in March.

April crude palm oil (CPO) stock increased to 943,854 tonnes from 918,301 tonnes in March, while processed palm oil rose to 726,908 tonnes from 696,165 tonnes previously.

CPO production in April went up by 8.02 per cent to 1.53 million tonnes from 1.416 million tonnes in the previous month. Read the rest of this entry »

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Borneo Times

8 May, 2011

The Palm Oil Industrial Cluster(POIC) Sandakan will offer up to 25,000 job opportunities to locals when it becomes fully operational in 2014.

POIC Sandakan chairman Datuk Bernard Maraat said infrastructure construction work in the area, especially on the access road to the site, is now being actively implemented and is expected to be fully completed by early 2013.

“To date, the infrastructure construction has reached 80 per cent with the rest being technical and electronics work,” he told reporters after the opening of the 8th Annual General Meeting of former Members of Parliament and State Assemblymen (Mubarak) here yesterday.

The meeting was officiated by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman. Read the rest of this entry »

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By Ranjeetha Pakiam

Bloomberg

28 April, 2011

TH Plantations Bhd. (THP), a Malaysian palm oil producer, said it expects higher output of fresh fruit bunches this year as more trees come to maturity.

The Kuala Lumpur-based company is targeting 504,901 metric tons of palm bunches this year from 463,949 tons in 2010 after applying fertilizers, Chief Executive Officer Zainal Azwar Zainal Aminuddin told reporters in Kuala Lumpur today. TH Plantations is “upbeat” over potentially higher yields, he said. Read the rest of this entry »

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The Star

25 April, 2011

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) hopes to address some of the strategic thinking and considerations behind the Truth in Labelling – Palm Oil Bill 2011 in Australia via the launch of the RSPO trademark slated by the middle of this year, said RSPO secretary-general Darrel Webber.

The RSPO trademark will be stamped on product packaging and labels which contain RSPO certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO) in their raw material or feedstock, thus enabling consumers to confirm very quickly that the products contribute to sustainable production of palm oil. Read the rest of this entry »

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By Cecilia Kok

The Star

9 April, 2011

THANKS to good foresight, careful planning and precise execution, K.S. Lim, a 60-year-old agriculturist based in Segamat, Johor, has been laughing all the way to the bank.

He sometimes likens his new-found fortune to striking the lottery not in the literal sense, but, Lim says, his strategy of switching from being just a fruit planter to planting agricultural commodities about eight years ago has clearly worked out very well for him and his family.

“It has not been an easy transition due to the apprehension of some of my family members towards venturing into unfamiliar grounds’ and the fact that we have to wait for several years before we can reap the harvest’ adds more pressure due to the temporary disruption of our family income,” explains Lim. He had then owned a nine-acre fruit farmland which has since been turned into a mixture of rubber and oil palm plantations. Read the rest of this entry »

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