In Malaysia, Sime Darby Plantation, the world’s largest oil palm planter by land holdings, reported that its second-quarter net profit increased 34% compared to a year ago, thanks in part to higher earnings from Upstream Malaysia and reduced finance costs as a result of lower borrowings. They also reported a profit before tax increase of […]
In Indonesia, the government has begun the first phase of a replanting program the remove old, unproductive oil palm trees that are more than 25 years old in order to boost production. A total of 350,000 hectares in Sumatra need to be renewed, so the program will tackle the first 9,109.29 hectares in 12 districts. […]
In Malaysia, oil palm producer Boustead Plantations has made an offer to buy 11,600 ha in Sabah for $175.1 million from Pertama Land & Development that has been accepted. The company’s Q2 results improved thanks to higher fresh fruit bunch production as well as improved palm oil prices but it expects prices to fall back […]
In Puerto Rico, researchers from the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras say in a new study that most palm oil plantations under development in Latin America are on former pasturelands. The study looked at NASA satellite images for 10 Latina American countries. The region’s palm oil acreage under production has doubled since 2001. […]
In Puerto Rico, a new study published last week in the journal Environmental Research Letters by researchers at the University of Puerto Rico offers the first regional look at lands being converted to palm oil plantations in Latin America. Palm oil is a primary ingredient in processed foods, soaps, cosmetics, and biofuel. Growth of the […]
In Malaysia, the government plans to tackle the problem of oversupplies that are weighing on palm oil prices by encouraging the destruction of old trees and replanting with newer ones, a program set to begin in October. The move is part of a price stabilization program agreed with Indonesia that also includes the increased blend […]
In India, the government has decided to invest $1.53 billion to help support farmers transition into oil palm production. Understanding that a long waiting period until the tree matures enough to produce oil seeds is a turn off for many small farmers, the funding will go towards paying those farmers to wait for the returns […]
In Switzerland, researchers from EPFL show agricultural residues from Brazilian oil palm plantations, can be used to produce bioethanol and two additional end products: furfural, a much-used industrial compound, and lignin, a solid fuel that can be used in the biorefinery. For this particular study, they characterized the composition of the empty fruit bunches and […]
In Nigeria, Wilmar is being accused of land grabbing as it embarks upon a 30,000 ha backward integration project to bring former oil palm plantations back into production. Local and international environment groups say the project has polluted local streams and water resources. The company says boosting production will help the country reduce its reliance […]
In India, a proposed new palm oil factory aims to use oil palm sludge to produce biodiesel. The facility should be online in about 10 months and in the second in the Apparaopeta region of Telangana state to be built, helping to support local oil palm growers.
