Tuesday, January 15, 2002 (The star) - MALAYSIA External Trade DevelopmentCorp (Matrade) is organising Malaysia’s participation in the 35th CairoInternational Fair (CIF 2002) in Egypt from March 20–29.Matrade said in a statement that it was also organising the 30th TripoliInternational Trade Fair (TITF 2002) for Malaysia from April 2–12 inLibya.At both fairs, Malaysia’s pavilion will feature a diverse range ofproducts and services, including automotive parts and components, consumerelectrical and electronic products, food products and beverages, palm oil,office furniture, machinery and transport equipment.Others to be featured are pharmaceutical and beauty products, computer andtelecommunications equipment, chemicals, rubber and plastic products,construction and engineering, education, medical and healthcare.Matrade said Malaysia’s participation was aimed at diversifying thecountry’s exports to new potential markets in North Africa, which includedAlgeria, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia and Western Sahara, besides Egyptand Libya.It said participation in these trade fairs would provide opportunities forMalaysian companies to reach out to 183 million people in the region, withan average gross domestic product (GDP) of RM18,365 for the year 2000.Malaysia’s total trade with the North African region in 2000 amounted toRM1.3bil, of which 85% or RM1.1bil came from Malaysia’s exports to theregion.“The potential is still enormous as this export value is only 0.52% to theregion’s total import of RM211.3bil in 2000,” Matrade said.Companies interested in participating in the exhibitions can contactMatrade’s Ishak or Silmi at 03-2694-7259. — Bernama

Wednesday, January 16, 2002 (The Star) - MALAYSIA Derivatives Exchange Bhd(Mdex) said the commission rates for all Mdex contracts had been madefully negotiable from Dec 28 last year in line with the amendments to itsguidelines.According to a statement from Mdex, the rates are now fully negotiable toenhance the competitiveness of the derivatives market.Prior to Dec 28, KLSE CI futures and KLSE CI options were charged minimumcommissions of RM50 per contract, while crude palm oil and three-monthKlibor futures commissions were already fully negotiable, the statementnoted.In addition, the clearing commission rates, shared commission ratesbetween the broker representative and its trading members, and sharescommission rates between trading members and institutions had been madefully negotiable with effect from Dec 28, Mdex said. – AFX

16 January,2002 (Business Times) - GAINS made by plantation stocks overthe past few days are likely to be sustained as the upswing in crude palmoil (CPO) prices is expected to lift share prices of companies such as IOICorp Bhd, PPB Oil Palms Bhd, and Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd (KLK).

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 11 - Our final estimate on CPO production in Decembershows on upward revision of 30,000 tonnes to 940,000 tonnes. More dataavailable warranted upward revision on the crop in the East Coast regionof Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah, both major producing areas that receivedheavy rainfall in the last 7-10 days of December.Basically there were more crop on the palms than expected. And despitethe wet weather and floods, the overall oil extraction rate (OER) at anestimated 19.4 percent only dropped slightly or not as much as expectedand was also slightly higher than the rate in December 2000 when therewere no reports of floods. CPO output declined an estimated 11.7 percentcompared to November. Production fell around 14 percent in PeninsularMalaysia and eight percent in East Malaysia, For the whole of 2001production in the country expanded 8.8 percent to 11.8 million tonnes.The estimate on palm oil offtake in December remains unchanged at 1.11million tonnes. Concomitant with the revision in output, the estimate onend-December stocks of palm oil is raised to 1.14 million tonnes. Thisrepresents a decline of 155,000 tonnes from November. Compared to a yearearlier, stockswere down around 280,000 tonnes. In contrast to the substantial drawdownin palm oil stocks, stocks of PKO remained at a burdensome level. Decemberrepresents the third consecutive month in which PKO stocks remainedstagnant at or near record high level of around 360,000 tonnes. Totalstocks of PK/PKO, oil basis, are estimated at just above 400,000 tonnes orsome 5,000 tonnes lower than November. Compared to December 2000, stockswere up by around 80,000 tonnes. Production of PK in December declined27,000 tonnes or nine percent to an estimated 289,000 tonnes. Given thecontrasting stocks situation between palm oil - basically CPO - and PKO,it is no surprise that while the average price of CPO in PeninsularMalaysia rose 54.50 ringgit to 1,113 ringgit in December, the price of PKand PKO were hardly changed at 494.50 ringgit and 1,027.50 ringgitrespectively.Consequently, the discount of PKO to CPO widened to 85.5 ringgit inDecember from 30.5 ringgit in November and 10 ringgit in October. Inrecent days the spread has widened to 100 ringgit - 112.50 ringgit. CPOprice averaged 900 ringgit last year, down 97 ringgit or neatly 10 percentfrom 2000. PK price fared much worse, dropping 280 ringgit or 37 percent.After posting gains of 43-50 ringgit in the first-three days of thenew year, CPO futures advanced further early this week. Follow-throughupward momentum along with other chart-driven forces propelled price 57-51ringgit higher in active trade in the first-two days of this week. Settingthe pace in the global vegoils market and at times displaying independentstrength, the sustained runup was also bolstered by price of other majoroils which tried to catch up. On Tuesday the March futures contract rose33 ringgit to an intraday high of 1,287 ringgit before profit-taking alongwith commercial selling trimmed the gains to just 13 ringgit and below the1,250 ringgit mark at the close. Lagging cash values coupled with lack ofvisible fresh Chinese buying plus market talk the release of import quotasmight be delayed to February also had a restraining impact on speculativebuying interest.The market retreated and slipped into the red in the last two dayswhen it became evident bulk shipments from Malaysia would drop to wellbelow 300,000 tonnes in January 1-10. Yesterday March futures slipped 13ringgit to 1,218 ringgit and brought losses over two days to 29 ringgit.Our current projection of a 100,000 tonnes drop in palm oil exports thismonth is premised chiefly on a large decline in shipments to China. Evenif China were to release the quotas in the next week or so, it is unlikelyto result in a rush in shipments in late January/early February.The soya market in the United States (U.S.) and South America must beclosely monitored in the weeks and months ahead. This applies particularlyfor export sales of SBO for the April-June quarter. Argentina has repeggedthe peso to 1.40 to the dollar but the develuation of nearly 30 percent isunlikely to be sustained. Argentina farmers/exporters who hold back beyondthis month in selling for fear further develuation and/or inflation risklosing overseas markets. With the Argentina government in desperate needfor revenue, export duties/taxes may also be imposed or raised in the nearfuture.(The opinions expressed in this article represent the views of theauthor only. They should not be seen as necessarily reflecting the viewsof Reuters)

11 January, 2002 (Oil World) - Vegetable oil imports are rising sharplythis season as a consequence of a pronounced decline in domesticproduction, mainly of sun oil. Combined imports of soybean oil and sun oilare seen reaching about 425 Thd T this season, an increase of 160 Thd T or60% from a year ago. We expect that soybean oil will cover the bulk ofthis increase whereas lack of sufficient availabilities and the stillunusually large price premiums of sun oil will probably limit imports to150-160 Thd T this season. Sun oil imports were up sharply from a year agoat an estimated 58 Thd T in Oct/Dec 2001. Due to the lowered tariffbarrier and the high preference for sun oil on the domestic market, Turkeybecame the world's largest sun oil importer recently. This furthertightened the available supplies for other traditional importers such asIndia, Egypt and Algeria. Based on preliminary export information ,soybean oil imports were boosted to around 90 Thd T last quarter, of which57 Thd T from the U.S. and the remainder from Argentina.

11 January, 2002 (Oil World)

Date Posted: 1/11/2002The American Soybean Association (ASA) was disturbed to learn from a newsarticle that it was working with the Malaysian Palm Oil Promotion Council(MPOPC) to develop a branded margarine product since there is no suchjoint effort.ASA Chief Executive Officer Stephen Censky said, "The ASA is not engagedin any joint collaborative efforts with the Malaysian Palm Oil PromotionCouncil, and is not involved in any efforts to develop a soy-palm blendedproduct of any kind."The news article, published in a Jan. 4, 2002, Business Times (Malaysia)via NewsEdge Corporation article, was based on an interview with MPOPCChief Executive Officer Datuk Haron Siraj.When contacted this week by ASA Southeast Asia Regional Director JohnLindblom, Haron said he recognized the article was inaccurate and he saidthat the reporter had misinterpreted what he said. Haron told Lindblomthat the margarine product was developed by a U.S. company with input fromMPOPC. Haron said he had already contacted the newspaper about theinaccuracy.ASA is a membership organization that represents 25,000 U.S. soybeanproducers.

Chemical Business NewsBase: Chemical Market Reporter via NewsEdgeCorporation : 12/17/2001The supply/demand balance for glycerine is improving following a reductionin production of fatty chemicals and biodiesel. Glycerine is a co-productof biodiesel. Prices are rising, due to the tightening supply situation,particularly in Asia and Europe. There is strong demand for high end useof glycerine in food, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. This balances fallingdemand for industrial applications such as alkyd resins and polyetherpolyols which are down 1%/y and 1.5%/y respectively. The glycerine marketis growing by 1.9%/ y. US demand in 2000 was 537 M pounds (+ 20% on 1999).Procter and Gamble is expanding its glycerine refining capacity.

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 11 (Bernama) -- Sri Lanka Rubber Research Insititutedirector Dr L.M.K Tillekeratne says his comments published early this yearthat replanting rubber estates with oil palm without serious scientificstudy could damage the environment was only applicable to the Sri Lankasituation.

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Malaysia's palm oil futures were firmeron Thursday on market-friendly export figures and traders said the outlookwas bullish due to steady overseas demand and tightness in Indonesia.Cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services (ITS) estimated Malaysia's palmoil exports for January 1-10 at 287,626 tonnes, down from 325,389 tonnesin December 1-10."The market has expected the figure to reach 240,000-250,000 tonnes.Instead, exports reached 287,000 tonnes which is above expectations," saidone trader in Malaysia."This is partly due to the problem in Indonesia," said the trader,referring to the world's second largest palm oil producer and Malaysia'smain rival.Another cargo surveyor, Societe Generale de Surveillance Malaysia Sdn Bhd(SGS), whose figures are more closely watched by the market, is due torelease its export estimates for the first 10 days of January after 0600GMT on Thursday.At midday, the benchmark third-month March futures was up seven ringgitat 1,238 ringgit ($325.79) a tonne, after trading as high as 1,247. Volumewas moderate at 1,421 lots.Indonesian authorities said on Wednesday they expected traffic in Belawanport in North Sumatra to return to normal in four or five days as effortsintensify to remove a sunken dredger and clear the port entrance.Some traders said Belawan was digging a new channel, but it would not beable to accommodate big vessels and thus could further affect shipments.Traders said refiners in Indonesia were struggling to meet demand becauseof the tight supplies, adding the road linking Belawan and another mainport, Dumai, was still flooded, disrupting transportation."Vessels have to wait for up to six days in Dumai because of the tightsupply. There's not much crude palm oil available," said one trader.Traders said the Malaysian market could see more palm oil demand fromChina ahead of March, when new rules on genetically modified organism(GMO) products take effect.China said overseas firms exporting GMO products to China must apply forcertificates from the ministry stating that the goods are harmless tohumans, animals or the environment.Beijing initially required government approval for all production, saleand imports of GMO foods, but it failed to issue clear details onimplementation.Confusion over the rules brought new orders of U.S cargoes of soybeans --70 percent of which are bio-engineered -- to a virtual halt as buyersworried cargoes might not be approved.China also crushes soybeans into soyoil.Traders in Malaysia said India's palm oil imports from Malaysia andIndonesia were expected to be steady at around 300,000 tonnes in January.Pakistan, another main buyer, had already booked 120,000 tonnes of palmoil from Malaysia so far this month, they said.In the physical palm oil market, crude palm oil for January in thesouthern and central regions was offered at 1,230 ringgit a tonne againstbids of 1,225.Trade was reported at 1,225 to 1,230 for central.The February contract for south and central was offered at 1,240 ringgitand bid at 1,235. There were no deals.Among refined palm oil products, RBD palm oil for January was offered at$335 a tonne, February at $340, March at $342.50 and April/May/June at$345.RBD palm olein for January saw offers at $350, February at $355, March at$357.50 and April/May/June at $360.RBD stearin for January was offered at $265, February at $272.50 and Marchat $272.50.Palm fatty acid distillates for January and February saw offers at $260.