Bernama

20 May, 2011

Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok will make a four-day working visit to the United States from Sunday to promote palm oil and rubber.

The itinerary of the visit includes a joint Malaysia-Indonesia Ministerial mission to promote palm oil, the ministry said in a statement Friday.

The objectives of the visit are to dialogue with the US cabinet ministers, industry associations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) on the sustainability of palm oil; to inform on measures undertaken by Malaysia and Indonesia on sustainable production of palm oil and to promote the image of palm oil among consumers and regulators in the US, it said.
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The Star

20 May, 2011

The Government is set to implement the B5 biodiesel programme next month starting with Putrajaya, Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said.

“The programme will be introduced in stages, starting from Putrajaya, before its full implementation at all petrol stations nationwide,” he told reporters yesterday after launching the Palm International Nutra-Cosmeceutical Conference.

He said the price mechanism for B5 biodiesel would be regulated and fixed by the Finance Ministry.

“The price will not burden the people and the Government will ensure that it will be affordable to everyone,” he added.

The Government introduced the B5 blend programme that involves the blending of 5% biodiesel with 95% fossil fuel, which is suitable for diesel engine vehicles and was initially scheduled for launch in January. Read the rest of this entry »

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Bernama

20 May, 2011

TSH Resources Bhd is poised for further growth, driven by the rapid expansion of its oil palm plantation business in Indonesia.

Group managing director, Datuk Tan Aik Sim, said the next five years would be exciting as the company’s substantial planted hectarage would mature and this would contribute to earnings.

“As at Dec 31, 2010, we have a high percentage of young and immature palms, with about 54 per cent of the planted palms aged less than four years and still unable to produce optimum yields yet,” he told a media briefing here Friday.
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By Pratik Parija and Prabhudatta Mishra

Bloomberg

20 May, 2011

India, the world’s biggest user of cooking oil after China, will ensure higher oilseed prices for farmers, helping them boost output of soybeans and peanuts and potentially reducing imports of palm oil.

The government may offer a higher profit on monsoon-sown oilseeds than on food grains, said Ashok Gulati, chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, in an interview. The commission is part of the Agriculture Ministry.

India is the largest buyer of palm oil, which represents more than 80 percent of its edible-oil imports. A decline in imports may pressure futures in Malaysia that jumped 38 percent in the past year on higher demand in everything from noodles to fish sticks to candy bars. Read the rest of this entry »

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Business Times

19 May, 2011

CRUDE palm oil futures on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed higher yesterday on active demand from foreign buyers, a dealer said.

June 2011 went up RM11 to settle at RM3,400 a tonne, while July 2011 climbed RM43 to RM3,337, August 2011 rose RM42 to RM3,297 and September 2011 was RM40 higher at RM3,285.

Volume rose to 29,486 lots from Monday’s 18,702 lots and open interest was lower at 106,652 contracts as against 108,205 previously.On the physical market, June South was flat at RM3,400.

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Bernama

19 May, 2011

Malaysian palm oil prices are expected to remain relatively strong in the coming months on strong export demand for the tropical oil, Chairman of Malaysian Palm Oil Council, Datuk Lee Yeow Chor said.

He said while there were wide concerns of an over supply situation, the current unusual warm weather patterns would keep prices up for the commodity.

“For the first 15 days of this month there has been growth of over 20 per cent in terms of export,” he said.

Fundamentally the market is still strong, he told reporters at the Palm International Nutra-Cosmeceutical 2011 (PINC 2011) conference here on Thursday. Read the rest of this entry »

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Bernama

19 May, 2011

The rising demand for oil palm fibres from China should spur Sabah palm oil millers to look at turning their mill wastes to wealth, said state Minister of Industrial Development Datuk Raymond Tan.

“The market is there. The prices are good and the technology is not expensive,” he told a media briefing on his recent visit to Global Green Synergy Sdn Bhd (GSS) oil palm mill in Bidor, Perak recently.

He said the mill exported fibres from empty fruit bunches (EFBs) to mattress factories in China or turned them into briquette.

Tan, who is also chairman of state-owned POIC Sabah Sdn Bhd, which is developing the Lahad Datu palm oil industrial cluster (POIC Lahad Datu), said the company was in talks with GSS to develop the proposed biomass cluster at POIC Lahad Datu. Read the rest of this entry »

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Business Times

19 May, 2011

TDM Bhd, a unit of Terengganu state government, plans to spend RM120 million to build four palm oil mills in Kalimantan, Indonesia in the next eight to 10 years.

Its chairman, Datuk Roslan Awang, said in line with its expansion plan, the company would build its first mill in Kalimantan as its 8,000-hectare plantation would start to produce oil palm in 2013.

“The company has invested RM44 million in the plantation sector in Kalimantan,” he told a media briefing after the company’s annual general meeting here today.

Roslan said TDM expected to increase its hectarage to 40,000ha in the next eight years from the current 25,000ha.

“We expect to plant oil palm trees in about 20,000ha in the next three years,” he said. Read the rest of this entry »

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