- Last week, Wilmar International announced that it has set up a microsite called Wilmar Sustainability Dashboard, which is dedicated towards Wilmar’s sustainability efforts.

- What is interesting is that the website will feature Wilmar’s supply chain and all of its palm oil suppliers in Indonesia and Malaysia. The website was developed in collaboration with The Forest Trust.

- Bloomberg said that based on USDA data, China has cancelled 459,000 tonnes of US soybeans for delivery in August 2015. China is expected to switch from US soybeans to cheaper beans from Brazil.

- According to an industry player, Brazil soybeans are as much as 40 cents/bushel cheaper than US soybeans and the spread will become larger as the harvest in Brazil picks up speed. Brazil soybeans are envisaged to be available by early-February.

- Bernama reported that Sarawak, Sabah and Labuan will be selling B7 biodiesel at the end of this month. MPOB has spent RM340mil to build 35 depots nationwide to blend biodiesel. Five of these depots are in Sarawak, eight in Sabah and two in Labuan.

- The usage of B7 in the entire country would absorb about 576,000 tonnes of palm oil from the system annually. Currently, MPOB is studying the compatibility of B10. B10 will be experimented on vehicles owned by MPOB, Alam Flora and Kuala Lumpur City Hall.

- Bloomberg quoted the Chairman of Indonesian Palm Oil Board as saying that Indonesia’s palm oil exporters will have to pay more fees for letters of credit and demurrage.

- Derom Bangun said that letters of credit may disrupt short distance shipping as buyers would not be able to unload cargoes until they have received the original documents.

- Recently, the Indonesia Government issued regulations requiring letters of credit for exports of CPO, crude palm kernel oil, tin, coal and oil and gas.

- Finally, the Thai cabinet has approved a plan to import about 50,000 tonnes of palm oil. This would help boost domestic stockpiles to a more appropriate level of 200,000 tonnes. Due to the fall in domestic production, Thailand has resorted towards boosting its imports of palm oil.

Source: AmeSecurities