The Star
Tuesday - November 18, 2008
Kota Kinabalu
Help is on the way for thousands of oil palm smallholders in dire straits following the plunging crude palm oil prices.

State and federal authorities are embarking on a five-prong strategy to help these smallholders in the state to ride out the global economic recession that has caused the drop in demand for crude palm, said Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman.

Replying to a question from Datuk Ramlee Marahaban (BN – Buggaya), he said the strategies included getting related government agencies such as Sawit Kinabalu, the Sabah Land Development Board (SLDB) and Felda to buy oil palm fruits at a price not less than the smallholders’ production costs.

He said biodiesel – a combination of methyl ester derived from palm oil and regular diesel – would be a power generation fuel in Sabah, adding this project undertaken jointly by…

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The Star
Tuesday - November 18, 2008
Petaling Jaya
United Plantations Bhd posted its best ever quarterly profit in the three months ended September, as higher production and stronger crude palm oil (CPO) prices boosted third quarter net profit 58% to RM89.95mil.

Revenue jumped to RM300mil from RM183mil previously.

Nine-month net profit was RM238mil, or 114.5 sen per share, versus RM108mil, or 51.9 sen per share, a year ago.

“Under the company’s forward sales policy, some CPO was sold forward for 2008 thus cushioning the impact of the prevailing lower CPO prices.

“We expect 2008 to be a satisfactory year,’’ it said in a statement.

“The company’s production of CPO and palm kernel for the first three quarters of 2008 has been encouraging.

“However, production in the fourth quarter is trending lower with the beginning of the lower production period normally experienced during November, December and January,’’ it added.
Shares in United…

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The Star
Tuesday - November 18, 2008
Kuala Lumpur
The Government will look into ways to lower fertiliser prices next year for the plantation sector by providing “backing” to fertiliser suppliers, said Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui.

The minister did not elaborate how that would be done.

The latest development came on the heels of a recent directive to the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) to ensure millers buy fresh fruit bunches (FFB) from smallholders, who have been reeling from declining crude palm oil (CPO) prices and high fertiliser costs.
Chin said his ministry and the agriculture and agro-based industry would look at different ways to provide backing to fertiliser importers.

“Now, fertiliser importers are on their own without any backing from the Government.
“We will see how we can give them backing like what the Government has done for some other commodities like sugar,”…

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Bernama
Monday - November 17, 2008
Kota Kinabalu
Impact of the worsening global economic turmoil has yet to be felt and is expected not to severely affect investments in the Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC) in Lahad Datu and Sandakan, the state legislature was told Monday.

State Industrial Development Minister Datuk Ewon Ebin said though the turbulent world economy is expected to inflict some damage, either directly or indirectly, on the inflow of fresh investments into POIC, investments in the Lahad Datu POIC are still encouraging and are on the rise.

“Since the Sandakan POIC is still in the initial stage and the project will only be completed in early 2011, even if there is an adverse impact due to the economic downturn, it will not be very serious,” he said when replying to Datuk Mohd Arifin Mohd Arif (Membakut-BN) who asked on the impact of global…

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YANGON — Myanmar strives to cultivate 500, 000 acres (202,500 hectares) of oil palm in the southern Tanintharyi division, the official newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported Tuesday.
In response to the government’s call, a total of 35 private companies have been engaged in the crop cultivation there.

So far, 249,274 acres (over 100,000 hectares) have been put under the crop in the region, the report said.

Tanintharyi division, a prospective oil bowl of Myanmar, is suitable for cultivating oil palm due to its soil, aquatic and climatic conditions and if the undertaking is extended year after year, there will be sufficient supply of edible oil for domestic consumption, oil palm growers predicted.

Transport infrastructure is being reportedly built by the government to encourage farmers for the engagement.

Other local reports disclosed that some companies from Malaysia and Thailand are seeking investment in oil palm cultivation in the division. …

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by Lim Shie-Lynn

KUALA LUMPUR: The government plans to make it mandatory for palm oil millers to buy fresh fruit bunches (FFB) from smallholders, Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Peter Chin said.

He said the move was necessary as smallholders were hard hit when the millers, running at full capacity, turned the smaller planters away.

“As smallholders are affected the most, we will introduce a regulation where millers must buy the FFB from them,” Chin said on the sidelines of a public lecture on Palm oil: Food or biofuel? Policy implications for the future here yesterday.

However, Chin did not say when the regulation would be enforced.

According to news reports, some smallholders have suffered losses when millers rejected their FFB.

The palm smallholders are also affected by plunging crude palm oil (CPO) prices, recording narrower margins as the price of FFB moves in tandem…

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KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 - A year ago three Malaysian palm oil producers - Sime Darby, Golden Hope Plantations and Kumpulan Guthrie - merged to form the world’s biggest listed palm plantation company in terms of landholdings. That was just in time for the crash in palm oil prices.

The price of the benchmark Malaysian futures contract has fallen by nearly two-thirds since March. That has Sime Darby - as the new company is called - and other palm oil producers scrambling to cut costs and improve yields on their plantations. The Malaysian government is so alarmed at the sudden downturn that it’s kicking in $56 million (RM200 million) to encourage producers to replant their land with young, higher-yielding palms.

In this tough environment Sime Darby faces a more serious test than most of its rivals. It may have the biggest land bank, but it’s far from…

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THE Federal and State Governments have taken comprehensive steps to help oil palm smallholders in Sabah cope with a worse financial crisis in the future.

CM Datuk Seri Musa said one of the measures currently implemented or considered to be implemented for reducing their financial burden caused by the global financial crisis is setting up a Special Action Committee.

It would monitor the oil palm industry in Sabah because it is one of the State’s main financial resources, he told Bugaya Assemblyman Datuk Haji Ramlee Marahaban.

He said the others include a directive to all the State and Federal Government agencies like Sawit Kinabalu, Sabah Land Development Board (SLDB) and Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) as well as government-linked companies to buy all the produce from oil palm smallholders at a reasonable price (not less than the production cost price).

Financial institutions like Sabah Development…

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The Star
Monday - November 17, 2008
Kota Kinabalu
Thousands of Sabah rural families involved in oil palm cultivation are in dire straits as mills are refusing to buy their oil palm fruits because of palm oil’s plunging price.

In the Kinabatangan district, as many as 7,000 families are facing financial hardship as they watch fruits rot on trees.

“These families have been suffering for the past two months. The federal or state government has to do something,” said Kinabatangan MP Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin.

He said most oil palm smallholders were cultivating between 5ha and 15ha and were paid about RM500 to RM600 per tonne.

This translated into profits of between RM500 and RM700 per hectare in good times.

“The last I heard, processing mills were willing to pay RM190 per tonne, that is if they are buying any fruit at all. For the smallholders, this is a money-losing…

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Business Times
Monday - November 17, 2008
by Rupa Damodaran
The battle lines remain drawn for oil palm growers from Malaysia and Indonesia, as pressure groups continue to question the credibility of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification process that was put in place earlier this year.

A three-day conference, themed “RSPO Certified Sustainable Palm Oil - The Gathering Momentum” which opens in Bali tomorrow may seek additional criteria for the certification process which covers the production and development of the palm oil.

RSPO secretary-general Dr Vengeta Rao said four resolutions have been received for the conference, including from Wetlands International and Pan Eco.

Wetlands International wants to call for a moratorium on palm oil from tropical peatlands until a greenhouse gases (GHG) committee has been established and carried out its work.

To strong activists and non-RSPO members like Greenpeace, the RSPO has yet to prove…

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