Countries negotiating the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) have now decided on a final 10-day window to bilaterally sort out pending differences in the mega trade deal, after which the leaders of the 16 nations will step in.

THE government plans to increase the demand for palm oil as much as 500,000 tonnes per year, which would lead to the implementation of biodiesel B20 (a blend of 20% palm oil and 80% fossil fuel) at the end of 2020.

Indian refiners have stopped buying Malaysian palm oil for shipment in November and December fearing New Delhi could raise import taxes or enforce other measures to curb imports from the Southeast Asian nation, five traders told Reuters on Monday.

The Indonesian government has made little progress in tackling the expansion of oil palm plantations a year after President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo imposed a moratorium on the issuance of new permits, recent data reveals.

Palm oil industry players in Sabah have been urged to seize value-added opportunities in the biomass sector to boost Sabah’s industrialisation efforts.

Plantation sector Maintain neutral: Malaysia’s crude palm oil (CPO) production in September rose for the third straight month, up by 1.1% month-on-month (m-o-m) to 1.84 million tonnes, due to higher production in Sabah (+9.6%) and Sarawak (+5.3%), but was partially offset by lower production in Peninsular Malaysia (-4.2%). Production is set to further increase over the next one to two months and peak from October to November, prior to the monsoon season. Overall, CPO production for the nine months of 2019 (9M19) was up by 9.3% year-on-year (y-o-y) to 15.19 million tonnes, underpinned by improving fresh fruit bunch yields and CPO oil extraction rates throughout Malaysia. We expect 2019 CPO production to rebound to 20 million tonnes from 19.5 million tonnes in 2018 (Oil World forecasts for Malaysia’s CPO production in 2019: 20.5 million tonnes; 2020: 20.3 million tonnes).

SINGAPORE/KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian palm oil futures ended lower on Friday after five days of gains following news that India is considering restricting imports from Malaysia.

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said his government will monitor the trade situation with India, which is reported to be considering trade curbs on Malaysia over his criticism of actions in Kashmir.

NEW DELHI/MUMBA: India is considering restricting imports of some products from Malaysia including palm oil, according to a Reuters report quoting government and industry sources, in reaction to the Southeast Asian country’s leader criticizing New Delhi for its actions in Kashmir.

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia will reduce duties on exports of crude palm oil, its first review since the current tax rate was imposed in 2013, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said on Monday.