Great Forum, a lot of really good information out there. I joined because I have a commercial interest in supplying an oil palm pest control product in Thailand. If that isn't cool let me know and I'll bug out but for people establishing new plantations, especially small ones because you will share a lot of border, be sure you look into potential damage by the Rhinoceros beetle. I've been working for the last two years to develop and test a less expensive pheromone lure to trap this pest and now it's available. Research was published in the October 2007 issue of "The Planter", search Incorporated Society of Planters. These beetles have been living in and damaging coconut trees in Thailand for a long time and they also attack oil palm. Be sure you can recognize the damage and distinguish it from rat chewing in young trees.

17 degrees north or south latitude is the normal commercial zone for oil palm plantations.

Regards,

Dave

I was informed by the MD of a large Palm Oil management company during my recent trip to Cambodia that record prices now available for crude palm oil had nothing to do with its use in bio-fuel ,he stated that the factories in S/E Asia built for converting palm oil to bio-fuel were in mothballs.

His reasoning was that the current price of crude palm oil is about 60% above crude oil and as the palm oil does not provide the higher priced petroleum bi-products that crude oil does, the price of diesoline at the pump would have to be 250% higher than current for palm oil to be financially viable as a fuel source.

His opinion seemed feasible , maybe others have a different view.

He also told me that his company had investigated the use of marginal land in Issan for large scale palm oil plantations but had found the climate and soil conditions not suitable for profitable plantations.

This is from a Bangkok Post article in the beginning of last year.

"Thailand will begin enforcing the mandatory use of B2 palm oil biodiesel for all diesel vehicles nationwide beginning in April 2008, and the move to B5 shortly thereafter, according to the Minister of Energy.

In January 2007, the Thai Energy Ministry set a revised biodiesel consumption target for the country of 500,000 liters (132,000 gallons US) per day for 2007, increasing to 4 million liters (1.06 million gallons US) per day by the end of 2011. That would offset as much as 7% of diesel consumption. (Earlier post.)

Thailand plans to replace 20% of vehicle fuel consumption with renewable fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel within the next five years.

More than 60% of Thailand’s vehicles use diesel because of the popularity of the one-ton pickup truck."

I am going to guess that tax breaks and subsidies, coupled with the price rising on demand will close the gap.

Edited March 29, 200818 yr by allcladrad

This is from a Bangkok Post article in the beginning of last year.

"Thailand will begin enforcing the mandatory use of B2 palm oil biodiesel for all diesel vehicles nationwide beginning in April 2008, and the move to B5 shortly thereafter, according to the Minister of Energy.

In January 2007, the Thai Energy Ministry set a revised biodiesel consumption target for the country of 500,000 liters (132,000 gallons US) per day for 2007, increasing to 4 million liters (1.06 million gallons US) per day by the end of 2011. That would offset as much as 7% of diesel consumption. (Earlier post.)

Thailand plans to replace 20% of vehicle fuel consumption with renewable fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel within the next five years.

More than 60% of Thailand’s vehicles use diesel because of the popularity of the one-ton pickup truck."

I am going to guess that tax breaks and subsidies, coupled with the price rising on demand will close the gap.

The big difference is that the price of crude palm oil has risen from 1950MYR per tonne in March 07 to 4350MYR in March 08 ,that 100% + rise evidentally has priced it out of the Bio-fuel industry.

I am sure that the Minister did not foresee such huge rises in such a short time, MMM 100% profit on palm oil futures in a year would not be hard to take.

GregB, I would love to contact you about a Palm Plantation project that I am working on for West Africa. I sent you an email through this forum. I am not sure if you received it. Please let me know.

10k per rai per year

Father in law is a Palm oil tree & rubber tree planter . (In laws started as planters 40 yrs ago)

1 rai = 22-24 palm oil trees . if you look after your trees well i.e. enough fertilizer, correct source of breed (DxP) from malaysia guthrie,felda or IOI. (less male trees) you can get 3500kg per rai per year is normal.

2,700 kg per rai per year is for those farmers who don't invest much and lack good management of a plantation

soil, rainfall and area is very important. krabi,chumporn,ranong,surat thani, nakorn si thammarat,trang,etc are the best area with sufficient rain fall and price currently is around 5.8 baht per kg of Fresh fruit bunch. last 2 weeks was 6.3 baht per kg FFB. I am from malaysia and now living in Nakorn Si thammarat.

Maizefarmer, you said "I too do not agree with the 17 ton p/hectare as anywhere near what is realisticaly achiveable in the majority of cases in Thailand. 12 ton p/hectare is more like it." That figure comes from Office of Agricultural Economics Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives September 2004, I presume this is an approved Government figure. Most other figures I have seen on this site are quite conservative compared to other figures I have seen on the net elsewhere. Issangeorge. PS if you can't believe the government who can you believe? Ha,Ha.

I have read up on the theory but have zero practical experiance, so I could be completly wrong.

You have read and understood the figure in its correct context i.e. it is the average figure for Thailands' palm oil production per hectare? - it's not a figure for certain conditions or palm oil tree cultivars, or some other small print criteria?

Suprizing - but if that is the case ( i.e. its an official figure), I'd be inclined to accept it as accurate as most Thai ag production figures are independently audited at the national level.

Hi

Could some one answer the following- Is Thai Palm Oil from sustainable sources, as there is a lot of press on this issue in other countries. Why I ask is that i export from Thailand some product which use Thai Palm oil.

Thank you in advance for any answers given.

JOHN

could anybody roughly estimate the value of palm oil land in the krabi region?

A large palm oil company in Krabi quotes 6.4 tons FFB per rai, irrigated. Their actual figure was 40 tons per hectare after 5th year of harvesting.

http://www.univanich.com/

I believe another poster gave this address 2 years ago. Have things moved on that much since then?

Regards.

10k per rai per year

Gregb,

So Williamcave's hypothetical 3.5 million baht investment would translate to a 1 million baht yearly return?

That sounds like a very good investment.

Opinions and figures are all over the place on this topic, on this and other sites, about trees/rai, kilos/tree, bahts/kilo, that it is profitable within a few years, that it will take 20-30 years to pay for itself, on and on.

Thank you so much for providing an informed middle of the road bottom line estimate.

Would you say that 35K is about right for palm growing land in the south?

I am going to Krabi next week for a look around.

Any opinion on corruption type problems with regard to product being accurately weighed, properly paid for, or other such problems that have not been raised that should be taken into account?

I have been seriously considering entering this business for some time but "the fear of the unknown" has kept me on the sidelines.

Hi,

Once again, thanks for the information and advice. There is a lot to think about but I will probably give it a go on a small scale.

Doni

But then where will you get the nuts crushed, is there a mill close to you ? this could be very important. Good luck with this.

Hi,

If one had 5 rai of Palm trees and it's 4 Baht a kilo, then 100 trees would only give 600 Bath - is that right?

Doni

At the present time Jan 2011. My father in law (a shrewd ole Chinaman) who has 60 rai of palm oil in Suratthani province, is getting 7 bht per kg. No wonder everybody in that area have got good modern cars etc !

Without any more information than this I would say you can probably assume an income of around 10k baht per rai at current prices if there is nothing wrong with the plantation. This is a very rough guestimate. Lots of things could be wrong with it though, so take this for what its worth. (lack of water, sick trees, pest problems, forest encroachment, etc.) If it's very far away from the factory you may get a discounted price also due to transport costs.

Keep in mind these are current prices, not historical. Palm oil is on a very strong upward pricing trajectory. Prices have been much lower in the past.

Personally, as long as the title to the property checks out and you have the financial resources, I don't think it is possible to go wrong with oil palm right now. My predicition is the price is likely to go significantly higher. It's a very good substitute for diesel fuel.

GOOD PREDICTION !! this week (01/01/2011)..............Father in law recieving 7 bht for palm oil . There is such a shortage that govt are considering importing from Malaysia.

Hi..

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