Talks & Presentations
Segi Enam Research
POC2023 Panel Session - Palm Oil ...
Environment, Regulatory compliance
Yuleng Khor
The positive of the EUDR - inclusive of ...
Segi Enam Research
IDEAS-FedEx: Highlights on RCEP and how it can ...
IDEAS-FedEx: Highlights on RCEP and how it can benefit your business
Segi Enam Research
At Roundtable (RT) 2022 - Day 1 Observations
At Roundtable (RT) 2022 - Day 1 Observations
Segi Enam Research
PalmTrack—Sep 2022 Wrap Up
PalmTrack—Sep 2022 Wrap Up

Wrap up

PalmTrack—Sep 2022 Wrap Up

Here is a wrap up of the some of the issues PalmTrack covered in Sep 2022:

  1. Malaysia plantation labour issues seem to be escalating. There is now worrying talk about destination market checks and signs that at-risk suppliers are facing buyer jitters. Indonesia suppliers may gain. This is amidst heightened problems for authorities to deal smoothly with migrant labour recruitment compliant with Indonesia, Bangladesh, and other requirements.

  2. Going by Malaysia’s palm oil production in the last 15 years, it is clear that yield-productivity management is in a major rut, a warning to producers in other countries. The more recent ups-and downs seem to be driven more by the climate cycle of El Niño dry/La Niña wet than anything else, at least at the aggregate level. Read more on PalmTrack.

  3. HCPO or high FFA CPO is the big new trend at palm oil mills. The processing of loose and rejected fruits gives a product with 35-40% FFA that suits HVO and more. But Malaysia’s unfavourable pricing for loose fruit is likely to hinder its supply. Indonesia prices a premium for loose fruits and buyers should see better prospects here. We talked to specialists to find out more.

  4. BOM officially declared a La Niña on 13 Sep 2022. However, the meteorological agency has stated that projections indicate this third dip to be short-lived and is expecting the phenomenon to peter out by early 2023.

  5. The EU Parliament has adopted the proposal on deforestation-free products. The regulation aims to eliminate deforestation in the import supply chain for the EU for several key commodities and products, including palm oil and soy.

Khor Reports’ PalmTrack is an independent research service that tracks palm tanker movements and reports trade of palm products (and shipments, upon request) for selected trade routes. It features a forward-looking market topic and sharp analysis every quarter, e.g. palm biofuels issues & opportunities for Jan–Mar 2022. Subscribe now!

$380.00
Every year
$38.00
Every month

PalmTrack—Aug 2022 Wrap Up

Here is a wrap up of the some of the issues PalmTrack covered in Aug 2022:

  1. The rise and fall of key agri-food commodity prices feels like a blast from the past, but many prices remain at multi-year elevated levels, notably fertilizers and also the likes of palm oil. In this two-part series, we look at recent news views from The Economist, FAO, and what some say about the 2008/09 price bubble and food speculation in Part 1 before moving on to what commodity traders say about the role of "non-commercial traders” in the recent early 2022 food price bubble in Part 2.

  2. PalmTrack has been updating on recent and upcoming palm oil sustainability issues. There are three parts to this series, and each highlight the following points of interest gathered from close observers: greenwashing, legality, product pricing for smallholders (fair trade), traceability to farms, carbon emissions, and political-policy challenges.

  3. In our posting ‘Sarawak CPO production to overtake Sabah’, we covered the forecast for Sarawak to be the biggest CPO producing state in Malaysia, the timber-to-palm transition of its big state suppliers, and the decline of its timber business segment, especially downstream amidst log supply woes. Now, we look at market access and dip into some issues for Sarawak timber and palm supplies.

  4. Our latest discussion with labour experts revealed a wider regional competition for agricultural workers rising and expanding. We expect the Covid recovery to drive change toward a more formal and compliant agricultural labour supply. We case study Australia, who are reportedly now focusing on Indonesia and Oceania, and Taiwan who has opened up for agricultural labour workers from Southeast Asia in 2020.

  5. BOM raised a La Niña alert on 16 Aug, the final step before an official La Niña. In the meantime, BMKG on 12 Aug revealed that while the dry season in Indonesia is expected to last from August to October, La Niña may still result in heavier-than-usual rainfall within the country.

Khor Reports’ PalmTrack is an independent research service that tracks palm tanker movements and reports trade of palm products (and shipments, upon request) for selected trade routes. It features a forward-looking market topic and sharp analysis every quarter, e.g. palm biofuels issues & opportunities for Jan–Mar 2022. Subscribe now!

$380.00
Every year
$38.00
Every month

PalmTrack—Jul 2022 Wrap Up

Here is a wrap up of the some of the issues PalmTrack covered in Jul 2022:

  1. The 2022 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report was released recently, and Malaysia remains at Tier 3 for a second year. In this two part-series, we look at key excerpts of the report, which should give a sense as to what national policy and implementation could or should be as well as other non-Western labour standards Malaysia is struggling with.

  2. Palm oil price is looking to find a footing with the ramp up of Indonesia domestic demand via an expanded biodiesel mandate whereby Indonesia plans to implement B35 in biodiesel by end of July. In another two part-series, we contemplate two questions: with demand side worries abound amidst inflationary and other concerns, what are some of the economic issues and is there demand destruction with 4–10% contractions?

  3. Malaysia made a confusing price control lift, with rapid response among politicians on maintaining subsidies. But there is little regard on the leakage from the billions that go into food subsidies. Read our post for our full analysis.

  4. BOM reported on 5 Jul that there is about a 50% chance of La Niña occurring later in 2022. BMKG made similar a forecast, warning that Indonesia may face heavier-than-usual rainfall up until the end of 2022.

Khor Reports’ PalmTrack is an independent research service that tracks palm tanker movements and reports trade of palm products (and shipments, upon request) for selected trade routes. It features a forward-looking market topic and sharp analysis every quarter, e.g. palm biofuels issues & opportunities for Jan–Mar 2022. Subscribe now!

$380.00
Every year
$38.00
Every month

PalmTrack—June 2022 Wrap Up

Here is a wrap up of the some of the issues PalmTrack covered in May 2022:

  1. Neste Oyj is a leader in HVO-SAF products using 95% waste/residue input (bio)share—that's a bit different from co-processed HVO-SAF. We looked at recent news on its margins, deals, and Singapore expansion.

  2. The shock of the Russia-Ukraine conflict added tremendous pressure to the already tight vegoil, grains and input markets. We listened in on a global fertilizer briefing, and it seems like markets have gotten used to and are indeed getting over the conflict impacts. We also took a look at what observers are saying about freight rates and port congestion, which are of relevance to agricultural inputs.

  3. How quickly prices move and relative prices can reverse, with palm oil now cheaper than gas oil and making voluntary blending viable! We chatted with a trader to find out what’s been happening and what’s next in the violent price correction, and another on potential demand-side issues in energy demand and Chinese restocking. 

  4. The US CBP conducted a virtual workshop on forced labour facilitated by MPOC on 8 June, which provided a guide as to how the agency generally enforces its anti-forced labour tools, as well as how it modifies and revokes imposed export bans. 

  5. There were several updates in the palm industry in the week of 10 June, including Indonesia allowing exporters not on its list of companies approved for bulk cooking oil distribution to ship palm oil subject to a extra charge on top of the existing export tax and levy.

Khor Reports’ PalmTrack is an independent research service that tracks palm tanker movements and reports trade of palm products (and shipments, upon request) for selected trade routes. It features a forward-looking market topic and sharp analysis every quarter, e.g. palm biofuels issues & opportunities for Jan–Mar 2022. Subscribe now!

$380.00
Every year
$38.00
Every month

PalmTrack—May 2022 Wrap Up

Here is a wrap up of the some of the issues PalmTrack covered in May 2022:

  1. We’ve been updating a lot on the changed political-policy landscape for Indonesian palm oil. Note that the Jokowi administration has been struggling to get cooking oil at the right price to Indonesia consumers for months, toggling between the export-restricting DMO-DPO rules and export duty/levies. 

  2. Experts expressed surprise at Indonesia’s intentions to reimpose a domestic sales requirement effective 31 May 2022. CIMB in its agribusiness brief dated 23 May expects the potential impact of the regulation to depend on the new volumes and price obligations set by the government, it is overall still too early to conclude how the DMO will impact the market and/or palm oil players due to the lack of details.

  3. Weather and rainfall: On notable rainfall events (30 days to 11 May 2022), 30 days accumulated rainfall was est. above 500mm in Central and East Kalimantan, where a significant area has within those regions recorded an accumulated rainfall of est. above 500mm. On 13 May, BMKG issued a warning of heavy rainfall accompanied by storms and strong winds for several Indonesian provinces, including Aceh, and West and South Sumatra.

  4. Tankers from Indonesia: Port calls for 25 Apr–8 May 2022 (14 days) count, c.50 palm-related tankers, with sample net tonnage c.295k (versus 14 days to 10 Apr, c.60 tankers with sample net tonnage c.330k). These two weeks (25 Apr–8 May), the share of port calls was higher for European ports; conversely, the share is lower for CIS and American ports (versus 14 days to 10 Apr).

  5. On 7 May, the Indonesian navy seized its third vessel, the Mathu Bhum, after seizing two others, the World Progress and Annabelle, a week earlier. A review of the Mathu Bhum’s movement shows that the vessel was doing unloading/loading operations on 7 May 2022 at Belawan’s container port.

Khor Reports’ PalmTrack is an independent research service that tracks palm tanker movements and reports trade of palm products (and shipments, upon request) for selected trade routes. It features a forward-looking market topic and sharp analysis every quarter, e.g. palm biofuels issues & opportunities for Jan–Mar 2022. Subscribe now!

$380.00
Every year
$38.00
Every month