Malaysia's December Palm Oil Output Hurt By Floods
Malaysia's palm oil output is likely to fall 18 percent this month from November, as floods and heavy rains have inundated plantations is key producing states, industry officials and producers said on Tuesday.Floods and monsoon rains over the past week have cut off roads leading to palm estates in several states, including Kelantan and Terengganu in the east and Johor in the south, making it difficult to harvest palm fruits and transport them to the mills.
"I think December production is going to be down. At this stage it is difficult to say how much but the estimate for 2007 production is 15.5 to 15.7 million tonnes," Sabri Ahmad, chairman of Malaysian Palm Oil Board, told Reuters. M. R. Chandran, an independent industry analyst and a former head of Malaysian Palm Oil Association, estimated palm oil output this month to fall 18 percent from November.
"Pahang is bad, Johor is also very bad and some parts of Sarawak have also been affected now," Sabri said. "Harvests will definitely be affected as there will be fruit bunches getting rotten." Malaysian crude palm oil futures eased 0.7 percent by midday on Tuesday as players booked profits and crude oil slipped. But the contract had strengthened by 1.5 percent on Monday to finish at 2,975 ringgit a tonne, boosted by robust demand amid worries that rain and floods had affected harvest and transport activities.
Palm planters in flood-hit areas said their output is likely to decline 20 to 30 percent this month. "Fruits cannot be taken out from the estates and as a result we cannot run the mills," said Kelvin Tan, general manager of Prosper Group, which owns 40,000 acres (16,000 hectares) of palm plantations in central Pahang state.
"When the rains stop, the fruits that will be coming to the market will be over-ripe and some may even be rotten." Tan said the company's palm oil output in the first half of December fell 30 percent from November.
Another palm planter, who owns estates in Johor in the south and Sabah on the Borneo island said his output was down 20 percent. Malaysian Meteorological Department has issued a forecast of moderate to heavy rains over the next two days in Johor, Kelantan, Terengganu and Sarawak states, news agency Bernama reported on Tuesday.
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posted by The Malaysian. at 12/18/2007 02:47:00 PM
2 Comments:
Good or bad, who stands to make the most money. The palm oil traders. Based on demand and supply, the shortage of supply would cause a temporary increase of demand. These palm oil giants, would temporary redude the amount of oil being supplied. As a result the price of oil would increase. You can see over the next few weeks, the oil palm future would go up, and many unethical people are going to make so much of money.
We should learn to boycott these unethical people. When biodiesel comes up full steam, again these idiots would play with the supply and demand and make a lot of money. Big palm oil companies would become richer and richer at the expense of the people of Bolehland.
People. Remember, boycott when they are unethical.
People. Listen!!!!. It takes 5 years to recoup your investment in palm oil ventures. And another 15 years, you would reaping profits. Do u know the impact, of these big oil palm plantations.
a) They control the land through many estates. When times are bad, they develop the estate to become expensive residential. They make a lot of money.
b) Second, do u know the amount of environmenal, social and ethical cost not taken into account when they produce their Income Statement. The pesticides they use, seeps into the water and kills many aquatic creatures. The labourers are paid low wages, and sadly to say some are Indians. For example in the Jenderata Estate belonging to UEP, there are so many Indians who are still estate workers. With peanuts being paid, the Companies are making money. Imagine leaving in estate, the culture of master and slave still exist. human workers are technically akin to slave.This happens to IOJ, Sime Darby, Guthrie, and Golden Hope. Poor Wage Structure. People who grow up in estate are not exposed to civilisation. They come out, no jobs, and they get into gangsterism.
c) These companies dont have proper Corporate Social REsponsibility. They make money and make money. They should actually, contribute more to the society, through development. Instead the amount they give back to the community is less 1% and most of them tax deductible.
d) DO u know the amount of carbon dixide being released when they develop peat land. They say, they wont develop peatlands more than 2 metres deep. This is utter lie. What they do, they ask somebody, may be contractor to fill up the peat land so that less than 2 metre, and then they tell the goverment it is less than 2 metres, i want to develop as estate. The environmental impact is so bad.
e) Milton Friedman,an american theorist say, that companies shouldn't contribute to the community. These oil companies are almost like that. What a pathetic philosophy to follow. It Petronas can subsidize petrol price, I hope the palm oil companies also subsidize the palm oil prices especially when bio-diesel comes into the picture.
f) IOI for example, doesn't provide many shcolarships to the poor people of Sabah.They have so many estates there, making money, but dont want to give scholarships.
All i am asking, more social responsibility.
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