Business Times

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

By Ooi Tee Ching

SIME Darby Bhd, one of the world’s leading listed oil palm plantation groups, has set its sights on India and has big plans of opening up oil palm estates and setting up an edible oil refinery there.

For a start, it plans to form a joint venture with one of India’s government-linked company The State Trading Corp of India Ltd (STC), which is tasked to import edible oils into India.

India, the second most populous nation in the world, does not produce enough oils and fats for its people.

“We want to establish our presence in India, be it upstream or downstream,” Sime Darby executive vice-president of plantation and agri-business division Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid said after the signing of a memorandum of understanding with STC.

“We (Sime…

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Business Times

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Credit Suisse has maintained its ‘outperform’ call on the Malaysian planter while Hwang-DBS has kept its ‘buy’ rating on the stock

CREDIT Suisse has lowered its target price on Malaysian palm oil firm Sime Darby to RM10.10 from RM12.50 after reducing its earnings estimates for fiscal 2009 and 2010 by 1 per cent and 4 per cent, the research house said on Wednesday.

Credit Suisse has maintained its “outperform” call on the Malaysian planter.

It said the lower target price took into account the de-rating of the Malaysian stock market and the plantation sector.

Sime shares rose 2.3 per cent to RM6.60 by 9.23 am today.

Meanwhile, Hwang-DBS Vickers Research has cut its target price on Sime Darby to RM7.65 from RM8.85 due to a weak industry outlook, the research house said today.

“Given that plantation stocks are still in a downcycle,…

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Commodity Online
NEW DELHI: Crude palm oil prices will witness a surge in global markets following Pakistan’s decision to import more CPO from Malaysia due the country’s increased refining capacity.

In the recent past Pakistan stepped up its refining capacity to around 4,500 tonnes from 3,000 tonnes daily. This has resulted in increased demand for the crude palm oil in the market. This may result in a rise in prices.

India also depends on CPO import from Malaysia to fill the demand for edible oils in the country.

Following the capacity rise, Pakistan is seeking greater supply of crude palm oil from Malaysia instead of palmolein.

At present, Pakistan’s capacity utilization was less than 50% and to increase it to 80%, Pakistan will need at least 1.3 million tonnes of crude palm oil annually.

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KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 26 (Bernama) — Pakistan hopes Malaysia will increase the quota for crude palm oil exports to the country to meet rising domestic demand.

Pakistan Oil Refiners’ Association vice-chairman Abdul Rasheed Janmohammad said currently Pakistan was importing about 1.8 million tonnes of crude palm oil (CPO) from Indonesia and Malaysia, of which 65 percent was from Malaysia.

He hoped Malaysian CPO export to Pakistan would be increased to 80 percent.

“The demand mostly comes from our local refining industry. We have developed palm oil refineries in Pakistan over the last three years which are operating at 5,000-tonne capacity a day,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the Second International Palm Oil Trade Fair and Seminar 2008.

Earlier, Janmohammad presented a working paper entitled “Pakistan Oils & Fat Business: Market Expectations and Anticipations”,…

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KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Malaysia’s Sime Darby, the world’s largest listed palm oil firm, reported on Tuesday a 60 percent jump in fourth quarter profit but warned that future earnings could be hit by volatile commodity prices.

The company, the result of a merger between three government-controlled plantation companies, earned 1.02 billion ringgit ($301 million) or 16.99 sen a share in the fourth quarter ended June 30, boosted by strong crude palm oil prices.

It also declared a dividend of 44 sen a share for the quarter.

That compared to a net profit of 636.4 million ringgit or 11.62 sen in the year-ago period.

Full-year net profit was 3.5 billion ringgit or 59.63 sen a share, versus the Reuters Estimate of 3.56 billion ringgit or 59 sen a share.

Sime Darby has been benefiting from high prices for crude palm oil which…

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KUALA LUMPUR: Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd, Malaysia’s third-largest listed planter, plans to grow oil palm at 10,000 hectares every year, mostly in Indonesia, to meet global demand for the vegetable oil, a top official said.

Many Malaysian plantation firms venturing into the Indonesian side of Borneo island, have started planting oil palm in the past two years, which could lead to high crude palm oil stocks in coming months. KL Kepong Chief Executive Lee Oi Hian said land acquisitions and planting of oil palms have to be done carefully to avoid encroaching into environmentally sensitive areas like peatlands and rainforests.

“We are concentrating on planting areas in Indonesia at very rapid pace, somewhere around 10,000 hectares a year,” Lee Oi Hian told Reuters in an interview.

“We are concerned about the quality of plantings and making sure its…

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By Manirajan Ramasamy and Feiwen Rong

Aug. 26 (Bloomberg) — Malaysia, the world’s second-largest palm oil producer, may act rapidly should prices of the edible oil extend their decline, Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Peter Chin Fah Kui said today.

“We might need to take immediate measures” if prices “drop drastically below 2,000 ringgit ($590) a ton,” Chin said in a phone interview. The price tumbled as much as 7.5 percent today to 2,406 ringgit a ton.

Palm oil, used in cooking and as an alternative fuel, has slumped 11 percent in two days as supplies from Malaysia and Indonesia, the top growers, outpaced demand. The price plunged 46 percent from a record in March to a 15-month low in August as tumbling crude oil reduced its attraction as a biofuel. Wilmar International Ltd., the biggest palm oil trader,…

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Business Times

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

KUALA Lumpur Kepong Bhd (KLK), Malaysia’s third largest listed planter, plans to grow oil palm at 10,000ha every year, mostly in Indonesia, chief executive Datuk Seri Lee Oi Hian said yesterday.

He said in an interview that the firm has invested RM200 million in a biodiesel softening plant, which will be commissioned in the second half of 2009. — Reuters

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Business Times

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

CB INDUSTRIAL Product Holding Bhd said its unit has won a RM36.1 million contract to build a floating palm oil mill in Indonesia.

Modipalm Engineering Sdn Bhd won the order from PT TH Indo Plantation to build a mill with a capacity of 30-tonne per hour in Riau, it said in a statement to Bursa Malaysia.

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Indonesian oil palm ops expected to contribute more

KUALA LUMPUR: Fima Corp Bhd hopes to achieve 25% growth in revenue to RM220mil for the financial year ending March 31 (FY09), backed by higher contribution from its oil palm plantation in Indonesia.

Managing director Roslan Hamir said the company would continue to bank on the production and trading of security and confidential documents as well as its palm oil production to be the main revenue drivers in FY09.

“However, we expect higher quantum of revenue growth from the oil palm division in view of higher fresh fruit bunch production,” he told reporters after the company AGM yesterday.

“We aim to produce at least 25,000 tonnes of crude palm oil (CPO) in FY09 compared with 9,000 tonnes previously,” Roslan said, adding that 80% of its CPO from Indonesia was sent back to…

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