-  Bloomberg reported that Indonesia said that it will keep its palm oil export tax policy for now. The Government will monitor market reaction from Malaysia’s scrapping of export tax on CPO before making any decision. The Minister also said that Indonesia’s B10 mandate will help stabilise CPO price in 4Q2014.

-  Malaysia plans to implement MSPO (Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil) by end-2014F. MSPO is currently being tested by the industry. The pilot run involved seven palm oil mills and estates.

-  The first part of MSPO covers general principles with 34 criteria. The second part involves 23 criteria and 35 indicators for independent smallholders.

-  GAPKI (Indonesia Palm Oil Association) has forecasted Indonesia’s palm oil production at 33mil tonnes in 2015F, which is 6.5% higher than the 31mil tonnes estimated for this year.

-  GAPKI is also expecting palm oil exports to be 21mil tonnes in 2014F, which is the same as last year. The stagnant amount of exports is due to weak demand from India and China.

-  Frost and Sullivan said that biodiesel usage in Indonesia may rise from two million tonnes in 2014F to 14mil tonnes in 2025F. It is estimated that the country has 12 to 14 years of oil reserves left.

-  Oil World said that palm oil prices may be near a bottom as demand is increasing from Europe. Demand from India is also anticipated to improve due to low stockpiles in the country.

-  Oil World also said that China’s imports of biodiesel increased more than tenfold to 510,000 tonnes from January to July 2014. The biodiesel were mainly purchased from Indonesia.

-  Platts reported that US biodiesel imports reached the year’s high of 69,474 tonnes in July 2014. However comparing 7M2014 against 7M2013, US biodiesel imports declined 28% to 225,132 tonnes.

-  Again, most of the imports came from Indonesia, which has not met its domestic biodiesel targets. Also, Europe has imposed anti-dumping duty on Indonesia’s biodiesel.

-  Finally, Rajawali Group has taken up a 21.5% stake in BW Plantation in Indonesia. Previously, there were rumours that Rajawali may merge with BW Plantation, which is highly geared.

Source: AmeSecurities