Business Times
Tuesday - December 23, 2008
CPO FUTURES

Crude palm oil (CPO) futures prices on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed higher supported by strong export data and the uptrend in the soyoil market, a dealer said.

According to cargo surveyor, Intertek Testing Services, exports for December 1-20 soared 31.35 per cent to 1.1 million tonnes from 836,659 tonnes shipped in the same period last month.

Societe Generale de Surveillance meanwhile said exports for December 1-20 advanced by 31.5 per cent to 1,110,753 tonnes from 844,750 in the corresponding period.

At close yesterday, the benchmark third-month March 2009 contract ended RM52 higher at RM1,588 per tonne.

Of other contracts, Jan 2009 added RM48 to close at RM1,590 per tonne, February 2009 climbed RM52 to RM1,587 per tonne and April 2009 gained RM48 to RM1,585 per tonne.

Total volume went down to 8,003 lots compared with 9,562 lots last Friday while open interest advanced…

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Arti Ekawati
thejakartaglobe.com

The government may halt imports of oil palm tree seeds next year as domestic demand for the seeds slows amid the global economic slowdown and a drop in crude palm oil prices.

“We are still trying to figure out how much domestic demand there will be for [oil palm seeds] next year,” Achmad Mangga Barani, director general for plantations at the Ministry of Agriculture, told reporters in Jakarta on Friday.

“If demand were to fall below 160 million seeds next year, then in 2009 we could stop seed imports,” he said, adding that the government would wait for demand forecasts from the Indonesian Palm Seed Producers Association before setting a final demand benchmark.

Mangga noted that seed imports would still be permitted for foreign companies that are developing plantations in Indonesia but getting seeds from overseas.

Facing a difficult pricing environment for crude palm oil,…

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Business Times
Monday, December 22, 2008
By W.Q. Mun

OBSERVATIONS: Despite the industry registering its best ever half-month export performance, the CPO futures market seemed barely bothered.

Swiss export monitor Societe Generale de Surveillance ) and Intertek Agri Service put December 1-15 palm oil exports at 895,693 tonnes and 868,629 tonnes. Both figures were not only the highest for a similar period for any month this year but also the highest for any similar period in the history of the industry. Yet all it seemed to elicit were yawns.

The actively traded March 2009 contract, after going through a narrow-range undulating session, settled at RM1,536 down RM45 or 2.85 percent over the week.

Why?

For one thing crude oil prices went where no one imagined it could ever go - down to US$36 a barrel (US$1 = RM3.47).

For another, the appearance of a bearish engulfing pattern last week when the…

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New Delhi (PTI): The government will consider imposing duty on crude palm oil imports as suggested by the industry, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath has said.

“They have represented for raising duty on palm oil. There is a steep fall in international prices. They want protection of the Indian oilseed industry and imposition of duty,” Nath has said after meeting representatives of the edible oil industry.

On being asked if he held a positive view on the imposition of duty, Nath said, “We will look into it. If factually the position is correct, protection of Indian industry has to get the first priority.”

Indore-based Soyabean Processors Association has demanded that a 20 per cent import duty be imposed on crude palm oil, which accounts for about 85 per cent of the country’s total edible oil imports.

Sources said the minister enquired about the possible…

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KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Malaysia’s largest palm oil producer Sime Darby expects the price of crude palm oil (CPO) to stay between 1,800 Malaysian ringgit ($519) and 2,000 ringgit a tonne next year, the Edge business weekly reported on Saturday.

“I’m happy with 1,800 ringgit, provided fertiliser prices come down,” said Ahmad Zubir Murshid, Sime Darby’s group chief executive officer.

Sime’s current production cost is about 1,133 ringgit per tonne and Ahmad hopes it will drop to below 700 ringgit per tonne.

Sime courted controversy this week with its proposal to privatise the country’s top heart hospital.

Its bid to acquire a 51 percent stake in IJN Holdings Sdn Bhd, the operator of the National Heart Institute, has effectively been rejected by the government following widespread criticisms that the poor will no longer be able to afford seeking treatment there.

Sime, which presently runs a private hospital and…

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HULU TERENGGANU, Dec 20 (Bernama) — The Terengganu government is setting up a 20,000 hectare “Ladang Rakyat” (People’s Estate) for oil palm planting next year to help the hardcore poor in the state.

Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Said said the project, costing RM100 million, would benefit 6,000 hardcore poor, including single mothers, in Terengganu.

He said the project would be carried out in stages, with the first, covering 8,000 hectare to be set up in Dungun and another 6,000 hectare in Setiu.

“If we can’t get a suitable site in Terengganu, we may buy land in other states so that we can get 20,000 hectares for the project,” he said after launching a programme to increase family household income and planting of oil palm in housing compound at Kampung Payang Kayu here, Friday.

In another development, Ahmad said the state government had approved a RM20 million allocation for repair…

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Business Times
Friday - December 19, 2008
CPO FUTURES
Crude palm oil (CPO) futures prices on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives closed lower yesterday tracking the plunge in crude oil prices and Chicago Board of Trade overnight, dealers said.

US light crude for January fell to a four-year low of US$40 per barrel despite the 2.2 million barrel per day output cut by Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

A dealer said the commodity’s outlook remained bleak.

He said the CPO market was expected to see range-bound trading today.

January 2009 fell RM45 to close at RM1,541 per tonne, February 2009 dropped RM45 to RM1,543, March 2009 slipped RM35 to RM1,545 and April 2009 went down RM35 to RM1,550.
Volume, however, rose to 8,696 lots from 6,905 lots yesterday and open interests increased to 83,049 contracts from 82,768 contracts previously.

On the physical market, December South was lower at RM1,565 per tonne from…

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The Star
Friday - December 19, 2008
by Hanim Adnan
Putrajaya
Sarawak oil palm planters, badly hit by the sharp fall in crude palm oil (CPO) prices, want the Government to give them some breathing space by waiving the windfall profit tax, lowering the cess and sales taxes, and regulating high fertiliser prices.

They have also proposed that the unused portion of the cess collected for the Cooking Oil Subsidy Scheme by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) be refunded directly to Sarawak plantation companies.

A waiver is also proposed for Sarawak plantation companies which are still paying their outstanding cess instalments.

Sarawak planters have paid about RM157mil in cooking oil cess this year.

Sarawak Oil Palm Plantation Owners Association spokesman Paul Wong told StarBiz that Primary Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui had assured the association that its proposals would be studied. The…

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Business Times
Friday - December 19, 2008
by Ooi Tee Ching
The government may make imported chemical fertiliser a controlled item, placing a ceiling on its price so as to ease oil palm planters’ burden.

Fertiliser makes up 60 per cent of the planters’ total production cost.
Malaysia’s 4.3 million hectares oil palm plantations consume around 3.5 million tonnes, or 95 per cent, of fertiliser imports.

Generally, oil palm planters do not want to skim on fertiliser unless left with no other option. This is because the trees produce more fruits with fertiliser.

But the severity of the situation was seen last month when some 200,000-odd oil palm planters, including the six biggest plantation companies, pledged to reduce fertiliser purchase in the next six months because of the high prices that were eating up their profits.

“The government is aware that fertiliser prices have yet to come down despite importers…

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The Star
Friday - December 19, 2008
Kuala Lumpur
The price of cooking oil will come down only if the crude palm oil price is below RM1,500 per tonne, said Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad.

“When the CPO price comes down to a level where the Government does not need to subsidise, the cooking oil price will go down on its own.

“However, bear in mind that a decrease in the CPO price will hurt the small traders,” said Shahrir, adding that the price of Malaysia’s subsidised cooking oil was controlled at RM2.50 per kilo.

The Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister was responding to a question at a press conference at a hotel here yesterday after presenting the Fair Price Shops Award 2008/2009.

A total of 373 outlets were awarded the Fair Pricing certification.

Shahrir said this year the Government had spent RM1bil in cooking oil stabilisation scheme (COSS) to…

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