Nature Alert: Delays in offloading palm cargoes in China

Friday 20 March 2009

Delays in offloading palm cargoes in China

Business Times, 20th March

TANKERS carrying palm oil from Malaysia and Indonesia face delays of up to a month in discharging their cargoes at destination ports, especially in Southern China, due to oversupply, Malaysian traders said today.

Top palm producers Indonesia and Malaysia ship about 100,000 tonnes of palm oil products each week to China, the world’s largest consumer of vegetable oils, historical data shows.

The latest delay is for a 54,000-tonne tanker from Indonesia chartered by a Singaporean based palm producer, which may have to wait for two weeks or more to offload consignments of crude palm oil and refined palm olein, a top Malaysian trader said.

“The tanker came into Guangzhou port today but it will have to wait for more than the usual one week to offload such a big ship,” said another trader based in Malaysia’s top palm producing state, Sabah, which regularly ships to China. “There is definitely some congestion there.”

China has built up high stocks of imported vegetable oils this year after just two to three months of aggressively buying palm oil from Asia, traders say. The East Asian nation does not release data on its imported vegetable oil inventories.

Traders say the recent delays for tankers to unload in China could have a bearish undertone for palm oil prices as the supply chain chokes up.

“Despite the drawdown in stocks in Malaysia and Indonesia, mills may soon get filled up with palm oil when the production upswing starts in April or May and harvesters will eventually be unable to pluck the palm fruits because of this,” a trader said.

Malaysian crude palm oil futures rose more than 2 per cent by 0741 GMT on Friday as crude oil’s surge in the previous session resonated through global vegetable oil markets, offsetting weakness in palm oil shipment data.

Plantation firms that deal mostly with China include Singapore-listed Wilmar International, Malaysia’s IOI Group, Kuala Lumpur Kepong and Kwantas Corp while Sime Darby is an emerging player in the market.

“Of the roughly 100,000 tonnes of palm cargoes shipped to China each week, about 50 per cent have got delayed over the past few weeks,” said another Malaysian trader, dealing mostly with East Asia.

“Everybody is facing the same problem. The recession is making buyers operate on a hand-to-mouth basis, which is leading to some port congestion.” - Reuters

http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/20090320163421/Article/index_html

Hall of Shame for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the Palm Oil Industry.

Nothing can prepare one for the sight of the systematic extermination of orangutans by the government of Indonesia.

Look at the photos and news articles on these pages in the context of a statement the President made to the media on 10th December 2007.

“In the last 35 years about 50,000 orangutans are estimated to have been lost as their habitats shrank. If this continues, this majestic creature will likely face extinction by 2050,” President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said at the launch of an orangutan conservation plan at the climate talks in Bali.

“The fate of the orangutan is a subject that goes to the heart of sustainable forests … To save the orangutan we have to save the forest.”

Statements like these are most welcome, but unless backed up by action, such words fall on deaf ears within the Ministry of Forestry....who are busy granting licences to cut down the very forests the President says they should protect!

When you think you are to busy to help, please could you reflect for a moment on .........

The following extract refers to environmental problems in general. I just hope you find it as thought provoking and relevant to orangutans as I have.

"This is such a shocking and unpalatable fact that most people deny it, or they just don't want to think about it. They believe as individuals, they can do little about it, so push it to the back of their minds. But I can't do that.

When something has to be done, we need to do it. It doesn't matter how big the challenge is or how hard the solution; if I know something is wrong, and I am in a position to help, I will do my best to make it right." Duncan Bannatyne, successful British businessman.