PALM OIL
No intervention to curb price slide of palm oil: Chatchai
Petchanet Pratruangkrai
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- In spite of the plunge in the price of palm oil, the Commerce Ministry insists on not intervening in the market.

It will only call on companies to help farmers by purchasing palm nuts at a price not much below the current market price.

The government will also promote more consumption of palm oil in the energy industry and help cut the cost of production for farmers.

After a meeting yesterday with palm oil enterprises, farmers, the Agriculture Ministry, biodiesel operators and the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat), Commerce Minister Chatchai Sarikulya said that in the short run, buyers will help purchase palm nuts directly from small farmers having less than 50 rai of land, at market price and above the cost of production.

Starting on Thursday, fertiliser traders have been asked to reduce their prices by 5-10 per cent to help farmers for six months, while palm oil for biodiesel production will be raised from B3 to B7.

Egat will increase palm oil for its electricity production from 3,000 tonnes to 12,000 tonnes per month.

In the long run, the government will propose a plan to balance supply and demand for palm fruits to avoid the glut plaguing the industry now.

"The fall in the price of palm-oil nuts resulted from the huge increase in production area and oversupply in the market. The government will cooperate with farmers and the private sector to draw up a sustainable plan to promote palm-fruit farming and marketing in the long run," he said.

Wiwan Boonyaprateeprat, secretary-general of the Thai Oil Palm and Palm Oil Association, said the plummeting price was the result of a greater supply of palm fruit in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, while the quality of the oil in the palm nuts has deteriorated due to the drought.

China and India, the two major importers of palm oil, have scaled back their demand for this year, which has also caused prices to slide in the world market. Palm-oil producers and refiners would have purchased palm oil at market price if the quality of the oil had met the standard, he said.

According to the ministry, the average price of fresh palm nuts has dropped to Bt3.60-Bt3.90 per kg this week, while the cost of palm-fruit production is Bt3.38 per kg.

Preecha Pratnakhon, treasurer of the Chumphon Palm Oil Cooperatives Federation, said farmers are afraid of the price dropping during the harvest season from May-June.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/No-intervention-to-curb-price-slide-of-palm-oil-Ch-30257759.html

-- The Nation 2015-04-10

Palm oil now! First the rice, then rubber. What's next sugar cane? Has anyone in Thailand ever hear of a balanced agricultural segment?

nice

socialist country

let's tax some more people to sponsor those useless policies

daddy in law will be happy to see the price slide ... he makes it into luxery soap

should we expect to see cheaper palm oil in the supermarket ? nah ... the store needs their 100% inflation on the price, so does the transport company ...

"The fall in the price of palm-oil nuts resulted from the huge increase in production area and oversupply in the market.”

This was no surprise!

2015-01-16

“The Ministry of Commerce will propose a plan to import palm oil to prevent a possible shortage at the cabinet meeting next week.”

“According to Commerce Minister Gen. Chatchai Sareekalaya, the existing 110,000-ton palm oil supply is still far below the standard reserve of 300,000 tons and the actual demand of 135,000 tons. The inadequate stockpile may lead to a possible shortage of palm oil.”

2015-01-20

The committee [The National Oil Palm Policy Committee], which is chaired by Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan, has agreed on the imports of raw palm oil and has consented to the Public Warehouse Organization (PWO) to import 50,000 tons by mid February, under a budget of 1.5 billion baht.

OOPS!

2015-03-03

The Ministry of Commerce's subcommittee on the management of oil palm and palm oil has asserted that no further importation of palm oil is needed to feed domestic demand.

Prayut really needs to review the effectiveness of his cabinet ministers. But perhaps being his personal appointees, their dismissal would damage his image.

"The fall in the price of palm-oil nuts resulted from the huge increase in production area and oversupply in the market.”

This was no surprise!

2015-01-16

“The Ministry of Commerce will propose a plan to import palm oil to prevent a possible shortage at the cabinet meeting next week.”

“According to Commerce Minister Gen. Chatchai Sareekalaya, the existing 110,000-ton palm oil supply is still far below the standard reserve of 300,000 tons and the actual demand of 135,000 tons. The inadequate stockpile may lead to a possible shortage of palm oil.”

2015-01-20

The committee [The National Oil Palm Policy Committee], which is chaired by Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan, has agreed on the imports of raw palm oil and has consented to the Public Warehouse Organization (PWO) to import 50,000 tons by mid February, under a budget of 1.5 billion baht.

OOPS!

2015-03-03

The Ministry of Commerce's subcommittee on the management of oil palm and palm oil has asserted that no further importation of palm oil is needed to feed domestic demand.

Prayut really needs to review the effectiveness of his cabinet ministers. But perhaps being his personal appointees, their dismissal would damage his image.

The "oops!" is in part in throwing a few figures together with a bit of oil, cook it and draw a conclusion.

According to wiki Thailand produced 2 million tonnes of crude palm oil in 2013. Indexmundi shows a local consumption of around 520MT in 2013 and 2014. The current government imported 50,000 tonnes.

The only conclusion I can draw is that we really need to agree on a single, clearly defined use of a unit of measure/weight. Without we may be comparing apples with oranges while talking about palm oil