- Bloomberg reported that Shandong Changhua Foodstuff Group Co has received bank credit again after funding was cut off for a month. Shandong Changhua is a Chinese commodity importer.

- Shandong Changhua has received 1bil Yuan (US$163mil) in financing over the past two weeks from lenders such as Bank of China, to pay for soybean and cooking oil cargoes.

- With easing of credit, Chinese importers might start buying palm oil again. This would help absorb the upcoming increase in palm oil supply and support CPO prices. In the seven months of the year, China’s palm oil imports shrank by 0.1% YoY.

- In Indonesia, the agency for Reducing Emissions From Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) is auditing the licences of 18 companies. This is in respect of companies with concessions for agriculture on peat land and rain forests.

- An official said that after the licences are reviewed, the companies will be registered and the licences will be revoked, if there’s wrongdoing. It was reported that three unidentified companies are currently being prosecuted.

- In a separate issue, the environmental ministry is investigating 26 companies accused of using fires to clear land in Riau.

- Wall Street Journal said that China is currently sitting on 150mil tonnes of grains that include the three most important crops for China, i.e. wheat, rice and corn. This is twice of the 75mil tonnes recorded last year.

- An industry expert was quoted as saying that China holds an estimated 40% of the world’s corn stocks. China plans to build storage facilities to hold an additional 50mil tonnes of grains by next year.

- It was also reported that in January 2015, China would start trial programmes in cotton and soybeans to end stockpiling and implement a target pricing system so that commodity prices are more market-driven. The trial programme will be implemented for soybeans in north-east Xinjiang.

- The government will pay farmers the difference when the market price falls below the target price, but the government will not buy the commodity in the market to keep prices at a certain level. 

Source: AmeSecurities