18/09/04 CHINA - The newly signed soybean import contracts by the twolarge Chinese oil groups have accounted 80% of the total, mainly by FOBterm, and the large Chinese crushers used to organize delegation to USAfor soybean procurements. The domestic soybean crushers have contracted 4or 5 US soybeans by CNF term, with the buyers being two large oil groups,and the signing of the contracts has been shelved or avoided disputes, sothe signing has been very complicated. Most Chinese large or middle-sizedcrushers are facing no foreign suppliers, so they have turned to domesticsoybeans or South American soybeans; or have suffered losses in the firsthalf-year, making their funds short. Two large Chinese oil groups areexperiencing the best opportunity in the past years for development andunder the current situation that the competitive edge of other crushershave reduced, they will grow rapidly, including merger, rebuild and extend

Wednesday September 22, 2004 - GOLDEN Hope Plantations Bhd (GHope) andUniversiti Malaya (UM) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) tocollaborate in research and development (R&D) pertaining to conservationand development of biodiversity and natural resources on Carey Island,Selangor.

KOTA KINABALU, Sept 21 (Bernama) -- The government will prioritise threethrust areas -- productivity, efficiency and competitiveness -- as part ofthe strategies and policies under the Third National Agricultural Policy(NAP3) to address high dependency on imports.

21/09/04 - JAKARTA (Dow Jones)--Indonesia's PT Astra Agro Lestariexpects the country's crude palm oil exports to India to rise by 5%-10%following India's decision to lower CPO tariff values by $50 a metric ton,Bisnis Indonesia reported Tuesday.A downward revision in tariff values, from which import taxes arecalculated, has effectively lowered the import tax on CPO in India.Benny Tjoeng, vice president of Astra Agro Lestari, was quoted assaying the change will boost India's CPO consumption, as it will make thecommodity cheaper."The price of CPO in India (will decline) by $32 a ton" as a result ofthe move, he said.India has been the company's largest market for CPO, taking in around10,000 tons a month, Tjoeng said.However, he said the company has no plans to increase its exports toIndia, as it plans to keep domestic and export sales around the samelevel.Indonesia is the world's second largest CPO producer after Malaysia.The government has predicted production will reach 11 million tons thisyear, buoyed by a steady increase in plantation area to 4.6 millionhectares.According to the Indonesian Palm Oil Association, or Gapki, Indonesiaproduced 9.9 million tons of CPO in 2003, while the Indonesian governmentputs the figure at 10.6 million tons.

21/09/04 - KUALA LUMPUR (Dow Jones)--Private surveyor Palmis ManagementBhd. Tuesday estimated Malaysia's September crude palm oil output at 1.410million to 1.415 million metric tons, up from the 1.32 million tonsproduced in August, traders familiar with the latest Palmis report said.According to traders who obtained the data, Palmis estimated Septemberpalm oil exports at 1.220 million to 1.225 million tons, little changedfrom 1.22 million tons in August.Palmis pegged end-September stocks at 1.33 million to 1.34 milliontons, up from 1.26 million tons at end-August, traders said.Palmis is the only private palm oil crop forecaster in Malaysia, andits production, export and stock forecasts are closely watched by themarket.Traders said the report had little immediate impact on prices, as itdidn't provide any clear guidance on the outlook for supply and demand."Exports were flat (on month), which is kind of a surprise, given thefigures. The production was also a bit of a surprise because (Palmis) putit at 1.4 million. The market feels this is a bit on the low side," atrader said.Traders said market expectations are for exports to show strong growthin September, contrary to Palmis' forecast.The bullish export outlook is underpinned by estimates issued thisweek by cargo surveyors Intertek Testing Services and SGS (Malaysia) Bhd.The surveyors estimated a surge in exports of as much as 22% on monthin the first 25 days of September.Full-month export figures from the cargo surveyors are dueend-September.Palm oil output in September is expected to be much stronger than inAugust, as production is usually at its peak at this time of the year,traders said.There has been talk of production of around 1.5 million tons inSeptember, traders said.Traders said with no bullish leads from Palmis, palm oil prices arelikely to remain under pressure because of the bearish global edible oilproduction outlook.Global edible oil prices have been on the decline in recent weeks onexpectations of a bumper soybean crop in the U.S.At 0739 GMT, the benchmark December CPO contract on the Bursa MalaysiaDerivatives was at 1,417 ringgit ($1=MYR3.8) a ton, down MYR12 fromMonday.

SAO PAULO (September 22 2004): Sales of Brazil's new crop soyabeans arebehind schedule as producers continue to hold on to stocks in hopes ofbetter international prices, grain analysts Celeres said on Monday.

20/09/04 LONDON (Dow Jones)--Brazil's soy crushers are concerned newChinese soyoil import rules on hexane levels will be used to curb boomingexports.Exports from the world's No. 2 soy exporter to China soared 182% to554,000 metric tons in the first seven months of 2004. But from nextmonth, Chinese soyoil imports can have no more than 100 parts per millionof hexane in unrefined soyoil, much higher than the industry standardthreshold of 600 parts."They could use these new restrictions to cool down exports," saidCesar de Sousa Borges, vice president of the Brazilian Vegetable oilIndustries Association, or Abiove.He said the new rules are part of a strategy to limit soymeal andsoyoil exports to nurture the expansion of the local crushing industry.Hexane is a derivative of petroleum used to extract soyoil. Producersalready make every effort to recover hexane and the threshold doesn't makeany sense, said Borges.

BEIJING, Sept 20 Asia Pulse - China's domestic edible oil supply will beabout 20 million tons this year while domestic consumption will hoveraround 17 million tons, according to a forecast made by the Ministry ofCommerce.

9/20/2004 Agra Europe - A surprisingly conservative assessment ofBrazilian 2005 soyabean production prospects gave added zest to thebullish, weather-driven Chicago market this week. However, the recovery insoyabean and product prices from recent lows was partly checked by markettalk that demand, especially from China, could be over-rated too.

Tuesday September 21, 2004 - OIL palm fronds (OPF) fibre feed has thepotential to be a RM10bil industry and can help provide additional incomeof between RM150 and RM250 per month to Felda settlers.