Baja MPOB F4 Sesuai Untuk Berbukit

KEADAAN bentuk muka bumi di Malaysia yang berbukit bukau di samping mempunyai pelbagai jenis tanah bermasalah dengan kadar hujan tidak menentu menjadikan hasil sawit yang ditanam di kawasan berkenaan juga berkurangan.

Ketidaksuburan tanah berkenaan adalah disebabkan oleh kandungan nutriennya yang rendah, manakala penggunaan baja kimia yang digunakan sebelum ini membabitkan kos yang tinggi.

Dalam menghadapi masalah ketidaksuburan itu, keperluan menghasilkan baja yang bersesuaian adalah sangat penting dan hasil kajian penyelidik Lembaga Minyak Sawit Malaysia (MPOB) mendapati bahawa baja yang mengandungi nutrien tinggi adalah langkah yang perlu diambil.

Sehubungan itu, MPOB menjalankan satu formulasi dengan menghasilkan baja MPOB F4 iaitu baja campuran organik yang terbukti berkesan terutama dalam aktiviti penanaman kelapa sawit.

Keberkesanan MPOB F4 adalah berasaskan kepada keputusan percubaan penggunaan baja kelapa sawit MPOB yang diselia oleh MPOB selama lima tahun serta kajian insentif berhubung keperluan nutrien kelapa sawit yang tepat selama 20 tahun.

Baja MPOB F4 dihasilkan dengan formulasi 9-618-2-0.5. Baja ini berupaya memperbaiki struktur tanah berbukit, tanah laterik, tanah liat dan lain-lain.

Ketua Unit Agronomi dan Mekanisasi Ladang, Bahagian Penyelidikan Biologi, MPOB, Ahmad Tarmizi Mohammed berkata, sebelum ini MPOB menghasilkan baja F1, F2 dan F3 iaitu baja yang mempunyai campuran kimia.

“Uniknya baja F4 ialah kita menggunakan campuran organik dan kimia bertujuan untuk membantu mengatasi masalah tanah kurang subur seperti tanah bukit.

“Penghasilan baja ini turut menggunakan bahan zeolite yang berupaya mengawal pelepasan nutrien seiring dengan keperluan pokok kelapa sawit.

“Dengan zeolite juga, pengambilan Nitrogen (N) akan meningkat dan pemeruapan Nitrogen (N) ke udara akan berkurangan berikutan perubahan cuaca dan ini sekali gus dapat mengawal kos penanaman pokok kelapa sawit, malah ia mungkin lebih murah,” katanya.

Termizi berkata, baja MPOB F4 berupaya membekalkan nutrien seimbang iaitu selain mengandungi N, P dan K, baja MPOB F4 juga mengandungi magnesium, boron, kalsium, silicon, kuprum, besi, molidenum, zink, sulfur, karbon, oksigen, hidrogen dan klorin.

Baja MPOB F4 berupaya membantu meningkatkan hasil pengeluaran pokok kelapa sawit melalui kesan secara terkawal hasil kombinasi elemen baja MPON F4 dan ia juga berupaya memperbaiki pH tanah serta struktur tanah yang bermasalah.

Menerusi bahan organik serta zeolite yang ditambah dalam MPOB F4 dapat meningkatkan CEC (Cation Exchange Concentration) tanah dan dapat mengelakkan nutrien daripada terperangkap dalam tanah.

Penggunaan baja MPOB F4 juga dapat menyelesaikan tanah yang berbeza-beza di mana organik yang ada di dalamnya berupaya menarik kehadiran cacing tanah serta mikro organisma berfaedah.

Ia sekali gus merendahkan risiko serangan penyakit dan serangga dan kehadiran cacing tanah dapat menyediakan persekitaran yang sesuai untuk kehidupan mikro organisma berfaedah dan membantu mengudarakan tanah sewaktu aktiviti semula jadi.

Dalam mengeluarkan Baja MPOB F4, MPOB menjalankan kerjasama dengan All Cosmos Industries Sdn Bhd dan untuk tujuan itu satu Memorandum Persefahaman (MoU) telah dimeterai sempena Persidangan Kebangsaan Biofertilizers 2008 lalu.

Sementara itu, Pengarah Urusan, Syarikat All Cosmos Industries Sdn Bhd, Dato’ Tony Peng berkata, syarikat itu ditubuhkan pada 2001 di Pasir Gudang, Johor dan turut memperoleh kelulusan ISO 9001 itu adalah pengeluar ekslusif baja itu.

“Syarikat ini bermatlamat mempromosikan konsep pertanian hijau di Malaysia dengan mengitar semula bahan buangan dan seterusnya menjadikan bahan berkenaan itu sebagai baja organik.”

“Baja campuran organik ini banyak diperlukan di kawasan berbukit bukau seperti di Pahang, Terengganu, Negeri Sembilan, dan di Sarawak membabitkan kawasan Bintulu dan Miri,” katanya.

Beliau berkata, dengan penghasilan baja ini dapat membantu pekebun kecil mendapatkan baja yang betul dengan harga yang berpatutan.

Penggunaan baja MPOB F4 dapat mengurangkan perbelanjaan penanam sawit dan sekali gus memberikan pulangan yang lebih kepada mereka.

Dengan baja MPOB F4 juga, penanam sawit bukan saja dapat mengurangkan kos pembajaan sebaliknya berupaya meningkatkan produktiviti hasil buah tandan segar (BTS) kebun mereka.
Berita Harian

palm oil exports slow down as india buys less

KUALA LUMPUR: Palm oil shipments from Malaysia increased at a slower pace in the first 20 days of February on fewer purchases by countries in South Asia including India, the biggest buyer, according to an estimate by surveyor Intertek.

Exports climbed 0.6% to 835,612 tonnes from 830,830 tonnes in the same period in January, Intertek said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.

The gain was smaller than an 18% advance in both the first 10 days and 15 days of the month.

Shipments to South Asia fell 13% to 180,390 tonnes, compared with the same period in January, Intertek data show.

In January, India imposed a tax of 2.5% on crude palm imports and raised the benchmark price on which the tax is applicable to US$802 a tonne from US$447 to shield domestic growers from cheap overseas supplies.

Malaysia reduced taxes on crude export to zero in January and February to clear stockpiles that reached a record 2.63 million tonnes in December.

Reserves slid 1.9% to 2.58 million tonnes last month and prices in Kuala Lumpur gained 5.3% this year.

“The rise in prices may be deterring buyers from India, they may want to wait for prices to drop,” said Arhnue Tan, an analyst at Alliance Investment Bank Bhd here.

India’s import tax may also have reduced shipments, she said.

Shipments from Malaysia will be taxed at 4.5% in March as the reference price was set at RM2,306.11 a tonne, above the threshold of RM2,250 that triggers the tax.

Palm oil for delivery in May climbed dropped 0.4% to RM2,557 a tonne on the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange, after rising earlier by as much as 0.7%. — Bloomberg

Palm Oil Gains as Malaysia May Export More Before Tax in March

Palm oil advanced for the first time in four sessions on speculation that Malaysia may boost exports this month before a tax is imposed in March, reducing near record inventories in the world’s second-largest producer.

The contract for delivery in April, the most-active by open interest, climbed as much as 1.5 percent to 2,519 ringgit ($813) a metric ton on the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange, and ended the morning session at 2,511 ringgit in Kuala Lumpur. Futures declined 3 percent last week to end at 2,483 ringgit, the lowest price at close for most active futures since Jan. 29.

The tax on crude palm oil exports will be 4.5 percent for March after shipments were allowed at zero duty in January and February, according to the Customs Department. That’s less than the 9 percent tax set for this month by Indonesia, the biggest producer and exporter. Shipments from Malaysia climbed 18 percent to 673,555 tons in the first 15 days of February from the same period a month ago, surveyor Intertek said Feb. 15.

“It’s likely that Malaysian exporters may ship out more palm oil to take advantage of the zero percent tax,” said Ker Chung Yang, an analyst at Phillip Futures Pte in Singapore.

The rush to export more palm oil this month may help to cut stockpiles, Ivy Ng, an analyst at CIMB Group Holdings Bhd., wrote in a report today. Inventories in Malaysia slid 1.9 percent to 2.58 million tons last month from an all-time high of 2.63 million tons in December, the nation’s palm oil board said Feb. 13.
Refined palm oil for delivery in September lost 0.7 percent to 7,042 yuan ($1,128) a ton on the Dalian Commodity Exchange. Soybean oil for delivery in the same month dropped 0.8 percent to 8,646 yuan a ton. Financial markets in China were closed last week for the Lunar New Year festival.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ranjeetha Pakiam in Kuala Lumpur at rpakiam@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Poole at jpoole4@bloomberg.net

11 Months After Field Planting

These are the pictures taken to compare the growth of AAR germinated seed purchased in april 2011 and planted in april 2012. Around 600 trees were planted at planting density of 200 trees per hectare.

Palm Oil Stocks To Continue Downtrend Driven By Higher Exports, Says Rabobank

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 15 (Bernama) -- Palm oil stocks, which fell 1.9 per cent last month, is expected to continue its downtrend in coming months, driven by strong export demand, says Rabobank Agri Commodity Market Research.

"We believe the drawdown will continue based on our first quarter 2013 price forecast of RM2,400 per tonne.

"However, we expect it to not push stocks below the five-year average. We maintain expectations that prices this year will remain lower year-on-year (y-o-y)," Rabobank said in a research report.

In the coming months, the seasonally slow palm oil production, palm oil's low price and reduced supplies of alternative vegetable oils should allow price to rise in the second quarter this year.

It said China's stricter quality requirements, effective January this year, have not appeared to have impeded Malaysia's palm oil exports to the country, which grew 23 per cent y-o-y to 268,000 tonnes and is likely to remain strong as other vegetable oil import supplies were limited.

Malaysia's palm oil exports to India, which rose 57 per cent to 172,000 tonnes in January, is also expected to continue until their rapeseed harvest is underway in March.

"Palm oil exports during the first 10 days of February were reported up 25 per cent month-on-month to 429,000 tonnes and at the same time, we expect production to continue declining.

"We expect Malaysia's palm oil output to fall an average of two per cent y-o-y during the next six months," it added.

-- BERNAMA

Malaysia’s palm oil stockpiles fall on lower production

KUALA LUMPUR: Palm oil reserves in Malaysia, the world's second largest producer, declined in January for the first time since June, as output fell and shipments decreased less than expected.

Inventories fell 1.9% to 2.58 million tonnes last month from a record 2.63 million in December, Malaysian Palm Oil Board said in a statement yesterday.

Exports jumped 18% to 440,830 tonnes in the first 10 days of this month, from 373,462 tonnes in the equivalent period last month, cargo surveyor Intertek Testing Services said on Feb 9.

Reserves in Malaysia and Indonesia climbed last year as production outpaced demand, pushing down prices by 23%, the most since 2008. Rates may increase this year, as economies rebound in China and India, the world's biggest importers, the Indonesian Palm Oil Association said on Feb 5.

“The good news is that stockpiles seem to be declining while exports appear to be pretty strong,” Ivy Ng, an analyst at CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, said in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

“This is still considered mildly positive though it's on the high end of the forecast range. Going into February, given that we have a bit of an advantage in terms of CPO (crude palm oil) export tax versus Indonesia, that should help continue to boost demand,” she said.

The drop in reserves to 2.58 million tonnes was less than the median estimate of a decline to 2.53 million tonnes in a Bloomberg survey. Output fell 10% to 1.6 million tonnes, while exports slid 1.6% to 1.62 million tonnes, it said.

Malaysia said in October that it would cut the export tax to between 4.5% and 8.5%, from about 23%, effective Jan 1, to cut record reserves. The tariff for last month and February was set at zero, as the base price was below the threshold that triggers the 4.5% rate.

Indonesia, the biggest grower, fixed the duty at 9% this month.

“The zero export tax is still giving a boost to the market,” Chandran Sinnasamy, head of trading at LT International Futures Sdn Bhd, said yesterday. “After the slowdown in the first half of January, the exports improved on the news that the export tax would remain at zero. February exports look like they may be better.”

Shipments in January were 1.46 million tonnes, 7% less than in December, according to Intertek data released on Jan 31. The decline over the full month compared with a 25% drop over the first 10 days of last month. - Bloomberg

CPO price will not go beyond RM2,800

Alliance Research says if there were to be a price rally for crude palm oil (CPO), it will not go beyond the RM2,800 per metric tonne level this year in view of the continued export competition with Indonesia and a healthy year-on-year production.

It also said that while stocks had reduced on a month-on-month basis, they remained high.

"This should see CPO prices recovering further in the coming weeks as shipment data is indicating a positive demand and we see that prices could trend up to RM2,800 per metric tonne over first quarter 2013." Alliance said in a note today.

It said that while the mild decline in inventories from improved usage of palm oil was expected to continue in February and likely to support CPO prices, it did not expect the price to go further up amid an anticipated volatile year.

It maintained an "underweight" recommendation on the sector, projecting CPO prices to average at RM2,6000 per metric tonne.

In a separate note, Hong Leong Investment Bank said a recent report had said that China's quarantine authorities have not rejected any palm oil cargoes from Malaysia in January as the quality was in line with the national standard.

"However, we remain cautious on such implementation for now, as we believe it may still be premature to conclude that such a risk has been eliminated."

The investment bank also maintained an "underweight" stance on the sector, saying that CPO price recovery would remain capped on demand risk from certain major palm oil consuming countries and higher CPO supply this year in the absence of weather disruptions.-- Bernama

Read more: CPO price not to go beyond RM2,800 http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/20130214162936/Article/index_html#ixzz2Kv2A1200

CPO Price in 2012

Crude palm oil futures (FCPO) on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives ended the week sharply higher due to the optimism of increasing demand in the coming months and short covering activities ahead of the holiday season end of the year.

The benchmark FCPO March contract surged RM133 or 5.84 per cent to close at RM2,409 per tonne on Friday from RM2,276 per tonne last Friday.
The trading range for the week was from RM2,296 to RM2,410.

Total volume traded for the week amounted to 157,246 contracts, down 30,991 contracts from the previous week.
The open interest as at Thursday increased to 159,084 contracts from 158,436 contracts the previous Thursday.
Palm oil market was cheered by the announcement from the Malaysian government on Monday that its crude palm oil export tax for January would be set at zero per cent in line with the analysts’ expectation the week earlier.
Such move would be able to boost demand for crude palm oil from those countries that are price-sensitive to vegetable oils like India, China and Pakistan.

This would also open up the opportunities for other palm oil suppliers to sell crude palm oil to overseas buyers without the restrictions of free export tax quota for crude palm oil which is only available to certain suppliers in Malaysia.

Cargo surveyor ITS released the palm oil export figures for the period of December 1 to 20 on Thursday at 1,004,159 tonnes, a slip of 1.89 per cent while another surveyor SGS at 1,015,440 tonnes, a slight increase of 0.50 per cent from the same period last month.
On the other hand, the soybean prices were under pressure this week as China had cancelled a total of 840,000 tons of soybean shipments this week.

The Chinese soybean importers expected the soybean prices would be ease from the current level with the anticipation of record soybean plantings from South America.

The weather in Brazil was favourable so far but the weather in Argentina was a bit wetter, slowing down the crop planting progress in key producing areas.
The current scenario may narrow the deep discount between palm oil and soybean oil prices which is hovering at US$350 per ton currently.

The Malaysian palm oil production may have a double digit fall in December as heavy rains disrupted the harvesting and transportation of the tropical oil.
On the economic front, the US fiscal cliff will still be on focus as it is approaching the expiry end of this year.
Most analysts viewed that the US policy makers would be able to close the deal to avert the fiscal cliff.
The Malaysian market will be closed on Tuesday celebrating Christmas day.
Technical View
The benchmark March contract finally broke up from the consolidation phase on Friday after the market had nicely covered most of the gap left in the chart due to change of month.
This breakout confirmed the market is ready for a rally soon. The target for this rally would be set at RM2,745 to RM2,820 levels.

Resistance would be pegged at RM2,490 and RM2,634 while support was set at RM2,350 and RM2,220.
Major fundamental news this coming week

Malaysian export data for December 1 to 25 by ITS and SGS on December 26.
Oriental Pacific Futures (OPF) is a Trading Participant and Clearing Participant of Bursa Malaysia Derivatives. You may reach us at www.opf.com.my Disclaimer: This article is written for general information only. The writers, publishers and OPF will not be held liable for any damage or trading losses that result from the use of this article.


Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2012/12/23/weekly-crude-palm-oil-report-december-23-2012/#ixzz2KsotPAwf

Oil Palm Price on the increase

KUALA LUMPUR: Crude palm oil futures closed mostly higher yesterday on lower soyabean output and this pushed soyabean oil production down, said a dealer.

He said this attracted participants and reduced stocks.

Kenanga Deutsche futures dealer, Chan Chee Wei, said the South American weather was to blame for the lower soyabean output.

February 2013 lost RM17 to RM2,495 a tonne, March 2013 rose RM12 to RM2,540, April 2013 added RM7 to RM2,564 and May 2013 rose RM8 to RM2,584.

Turnover fell to 32,005 lots from 45,100 lots while open interest eased to 198,360 contracts from 213,363 recorded previously.

10 Months After Field Planting

Weed control
The basin area of oil palm is kept free of weed growth through ring weeding. It is more important for young palms, roots of which are to be kept free from competition from weed. Depending on the extent of weed growth and rainfall, hand weeding is carried out even upto four times in a year during early years of the plantation which is progressively reduced to two rounds a year.

Herbicide application has become common in recent years. Care must be taken in the choice of herbicide and its application to prevent the damage of young palms. It is recommended to preferably apply contact herbicides rather than translocated herbicides. Translocated herbicides like Paraquat which is inactivated when contacted with soil are also used. Herbicides such as 2, 4-D, 2, 4-5-T, halogenated aliphatic acids Dalapon and TCA are found to produce abnormalities in oil palm seedlings and are to be avoided. Herbicide mixtures of 2 kg a.i. of Paraquat with 3 - 4 kg Atrazine Monuron and Diuron per ha sprayed/ground applied twice a year has been found to give control of weeds.