Market views and news (updated)

China Soybean, Rubber Importers Renege on Deals By Huileng Tan March 27, 2014, Wall Street Journal; http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304688104579464772427185240?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304688104579464772427185240.html;
Chinese importers of soybeans and rubber are backing out of deals, adding to a wide range of evidence showing rising financial stress in the world's second-biggest economy.

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Moody's sees crude palm oil prices to average US$700 to US$800 per tonne this ...; The Malaysian Insider  - ‎Mar 24, 2014‎; http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/business/article/moodys-sees-crude-palm-oil-prices-to-average-us700-to-us800-per-tonne-this; Crude palm oil prices are expected to hover around US$700 range thanks to food-based usage and demand for biodiesel. - The Malaysian Insider pic, March 24, 2014Moody's Investors Service expects crude palm oil (CPO) prices to average between ...

Mistry Bullish on Palm Oil as El Nino Threatens to Parch Trees; Businessweek By Ranjeetha Pakiam   March 21, 2014 ; http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-03-21/mistry-bullish-on-palm-oil-as-el-nino-threatens-to-parch-trees; Palm oil may extend its advance in April to the highest level since 2012 after dry weather in ... The southwest monsoon in India is likely to be impacted....

CPO Exports Seen to Rise 10% to $22 Billion in 2014;Jakarta Globe By Investor Daily on 01:25 pm Mar 19, 2014; http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/business/cpo-exports-seen-rise-10-22-billion-2014/ ;
Jakarta. The Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI) predicts that 2014 exports of crude palm oil are set to reach $22 billion, up 10 percent from last ...

Palm Production in Indonesia Rising for First Time in 6 Months;  Jakarta Globe By Yoga Rusmana on 09:17 am Mar 21, 2014; http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/business/palm-production-indonesia-rising-first-time-6-months/; The percentage change for exports is derived from the February figure from the Indonesian Palm Oil Association, known as Gapki. Comparisons for ...

Consumers Pinched as Palm Oil, Soybean Prices Rise; Wall Street Journal By Isabella Steger,  Debi Nayak and  Huileng Tan  March 14, 2014 5:26 a.m. ET; http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304914904579438610824940936?mg=reno64-wsj ; Palm oil in China is now more expensive than soy oil, the most commonly used cooking oil, which is an unusual development, said Jane Peng, ...

Agriculture Prices Hold Up Despite China Jitters; Wall Street Journal (blog); http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2014/03/19/auto-draft-17/; Fears over China's slowing growth so far in 2014 have hurt prices for ... Dry weather in Brazil and Southeast Asia has hurt supply of palm oil, as has ...

Crude palm oil may rise to RM3,177, says Oil World; The Star Online  - ‎Mar 4, 2014‎; http://www.thestar.com.my/Business/Business-News/2014/03/05/Crude-palm-oil-may-rise-to-RM3177-says-Oil-World/;   KUALA LUMPUR: Riding on the current rally in crude palm oil (CPO) prices, CPO could average at the RM3,177 level a tonne this year, 14% higher than 2013's average.
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Energy

US expands gas exports in bid to punish Putin for Crimea; theguardian.com, Tuesday 25 March 2014; http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/mar/25/us-expands-gas-exports-in-bid-to-punish-putin-for-crimea; One of the most advanced U.S. LNG export projects, Cameron LNG--a project in which GDF SUEZ holds an ownership share--has received conditional non-Free Trade Agreement approval from the U.S. Department of Energy.  Senate energy committee told exporting natural gas would end Russia’s 'energy blackmail'

On Malaysia politics & MH370 (update2)

'Deputy Defence Minister should resign' Free Malaysia Today  - FMT Staff, March 28, 2014; http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2014/03/28/deputy-defence-minister-should-resign/;  It is simply unacceptable for the Deputy Defence Minister to be so irresponsible in his statements, says Gelang Patah MP. lim kit siang PETALING JAYA: DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang today called for the resignation of Deputy Defence Minister Abdul Rahim ...

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Why Malaysia Will Say Almost Nothing About the Missing Plane. Malaysia's dearth of communication about Flight MH370 isn't surprising given its governing coalition's habitual disinterest toward the press and lack of transparency; http://newsletters.businessweek.com/c/1168803/60398984a45ac407/33

 

US lawmakers claim help resisted? http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-16/jet-probably-crashed-in-ocean-as-u-s-help-resisted-lawmakers.html

Malaysia’s Crisis Hurts Najib Heir-Apparent as Criticism Swells; By Sharon Chen and Manirajan Ramasamy  Mar 26, 2014; http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-25/malaysia-s-crisis-hurts-najib-heir-apparent-as-criticism-swells.html;  ... Malaysia’s handling of the search for missing Flight 370 has turned the official groomed to become the country’s next prime minister into a lightning rod for criticism, hurting his chances to lead the nation. Hishammuddin Hussein, the defense and acting transport minister, has led almost all daily press conferences held since the Malaysian Air plane dropped off air-traffic controllers’ screens March 8. The relation of three prime ministers and the grandson of the ruling party’s founder has stoked ire among passengers' families and China's government with his self-contradictions and failure to provide definitive answers.... Razali Ibrahim, deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and an UMNO supreme council member, said “we are very pleased” with the way Hishammuddin is handling this crisis. Based on feedback from party members, “they strongly believe Hishammuddin is managing his task well, in a very professional way, despite under tough circumstances,” he said.

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31 March, background information - MAS share price chart (5 years), from Bloomberg.com

 

Contesting regulations

Indonesia's proposed peat law too weak to protect peatlands, stop haze, says Greenpeace; Mongabay.com; http://news.mongabay.com/2014/0314-peat-regulation-greenpeace.html
It also doesn't protect peat in existing concessions or mandate better water management in areas already converted for oil palm and timber plantations ...

Sugar news and views

MSM seeks M&As globally with aim to be among top three in sugar industry; The Star Online  26 March 2014; http://www.thestar.com.my/Business/Business-News/2014/03/26/MSM-seeks-MAs-globally-It-aims-to-be-among-top-three-world-players-in-sugar-industry/
Sugar producer MSM Malaysia Holdings Bhd (MSM) is actively seeking out merger and acquisition opportunities around the globe in line with its expansion plans, according to newly-appointed president and group chief executive officer ...

Growing El Nino threat rattles sugar market nerves; Agrimoney.com; 26 March 2014; http://www.agrimoney.com/news/growing-el-nino-threat-rattles-sugar-market-nerves--6913.html
Australia upgraded the likelihood of an El Nino setting in this year as the sugar investors in particular raised concerns over the weather pattern, for the threat it poses to production in Asia and Brazil.

Government's pre-poll sugar sop questioned at WTO; Times of India; 26 March 2014; http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Governments-pre-poll-sugar-sop-questioned-at-WTO/articleshow/32700176.cms 
NEW DELHI: The government's pre-election bonanza for the sugar industry has been questioned at the World Trade Organization (WTO), making it the second farm subsidy to face global scrutiny in recent months.

Reality of zoos

Danish zoo that culled giraffe kills family of lions; 25 March 2014 Last updated at 17:49; http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26734377 ; ..zoo said the animal did not fit in with the park's breeding programme but the move shocked animal lovers across the world. Despite the outcry over the death, the zoo said it did not believe it was necessary to change its procedures.

Key Asia voices for sustainability

Sustainability in the Malaysian palm oil industry – M.R. Chandran; The Malaysian Insider  - ‎Mar 4, 2014; http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/sideviews/article/sustainability-in-the-malaysian-palm-oil-industry-m.r.-chandran‎; Without question, the issue of sustainability in palm oil production is the greatest challenge of the coming decades. More than two billion people will be joining the human race by 2050, at which time 70% to 80% of the population will be living in ...

Plantation sector - company news updates

Bumitama issues RM500mil sukuk, The Star Online, 21 March 2014; http://www.thestar.com.my/Business/Business-News/2014/03/21/Bumitama-issues-sukuk/; 
Bumitama Agri Ltd has successfully priced and issued its inaugural RM500mil five-year sukuk issuance under its maiden sukuk ...

CBIP secures RM46m oil mill project in PNG; The Star Online  Updated: Monday March 17, 2014 MYT 6:34:54 PM ; http://www.thestar.com.my/Business/Business-News/2014/03/17/CBIP-secures-RM46m-oil-mill-project-in-PNG/; KUALA LUMPUR: CB Industrial Product Holding Bhd has secured a RM46.01mil contract to build a palm oil mill in Papua New Guinea. It said on ...It said on Monday its unit Modipalm Engineering Sdn. Bhd has received the cotract from from Gilford Ltd, a subsidiary of Rimbunan Hijau (PNG) Group.

CIMB Research sees potential earnings boost from FGV M&A plans; The Star Online Published: Wednesday March 19, 2014 MYT 8:45:00 AM; http://www.thestar.com.my/Business/Investing/2014/03/19/CIMB-Research-sees-potential-earnings-boost-from-FGV-plans/ ; KUALA LUMPUR: CIMB Equities Research continues to advise investors to hang on to their Felda Global Ventures (FGV) shares and ride on the ...

EPF takes contrarian route cutting stakes in plantations in bullish times; The Star Online  17 March 2014; http://www.thestar.com.my/Business/Business-News/2014/03/17/EPF-takes-different-route-It-cuts-stakes-in-plantation-players-in-bullish-times/ ; The fund was also a seller in another big planter, Kuala Lumpur-Kepong Bhd, as it reduced its shares in the Ipoh-based company from 15.8% to ...

Commodity markets and prices links

USDA: http://www.fas.usda.gov/

World Bank: http://econ.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTDECPROSPECTS/0,,contentMDK:21574907~menuPK:7859231~pagePK:64165401~piPK:64165026~theSitePK:476883,00.html

IndexMundi: http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=agricultural-raw-materials-price-index&months=360


Rubber consultant: http://www.therubbereconomist.com/The_Rubber_Economist/Home.html

Forests: http://www.cifor.org/

Big energy's climate strategy & clean power

 High Cost of Climate Earns Exxon Rare Environmental Win By Tom Randall Mar 22, 2014; http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-21/exxon-wins-by-having-the-highest-cost-of-climate.html; For years, Exxon Mobil has walked around with an environmentalist target on its chest. So it was news when the world’s biggest oil company by market value agreed yesterday to share its plans for dealing with climate change. A look at what we already know about Exxon’s climate strategy shows why disclosure may be a savvy move.... The longer the global community waits to address climate change, the more invasive future climate policies may need to be. The risk is that oil and coal companies worth more than $7 trillion may be sinking billions of dollars into projects that will never make sense to finish... Exxon is the first U.S. oil-and-gas major to commit to reporting on its risk of stranded assets due to climate change, a step that may pressure competitors to do the same. About ten energy companies are awaiting votes on shareholder resolutions similar to the one that triggered Exxon's agreement to report its climate data.... Exxon has the world’s second-largest stockpile of carbon embedded in oil and gas, after Russia’s Gazprom. According to Bloomberg’s Carbon Risk Valuation Tool, Exxon’s share price could be worth 45 percent less in a carbon-stranding scenario where prices decline 5 percent a year from 2020.

 

 

 Global Energy Thirst Threatens Water Supplies, UN Says By Tara Patel Mar 22, 2014; http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-21/global-energy-thirst-threatens-to-worsen-water-woes-un.html; ...Energy production will increasingly strain water resources in the coming decades even as more than 1 billion of the planet’s 7 billion people already lack access to both, according to a United Nations report... “There is an increasing potential for serious conflict between power generation, other water users and environmental considerations,” said the UN World Water Development Report published today that focused on water and energy. Ninety percent of power generation is “water-intensive,” it said. (link to UN report: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/environment/water/wwap/wwdr/)

 

How much progress have corporations made on their 100% clean power goals? theguardian.com, Tuesday 25 March 2014;  http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/gallery/sap-renewable-clean-energy-goal-intel-microsoft-kohls-walmart; Software giant SAP on Monday said it plans buy enough renewable-energy credits to figuratively power 100% of its worldwide operations with clean energy. The company joins a growing number of businesses gunning for 100% green energy. Which corporations have made the most progress so far?

 

Unhealthy food and wrong messages?

Could eating too much margarine be bad for your critical faculties? The "experts" who so confidently advised us to replace saturated fats, such as butter, with polyunsaturated spreads, people who presumably practise what they preach, have suddenly come over all uncertain and seem to be struggling through a mental fog to reformulate their script.... Last week it fell to a floundering professor, Jeremy Pearson, from the British Heart Foundation to explain why it still adheres to the nutrition establishment's anti-saturated fat doctrine when evidence is stacking up to refute it. After examining 72 academic studies involving more than 600,000 participants, the study, funded by the foundation, found that saturated fat consumption was not associated with coronary disease risk. This assessment echoed a review in 2010 that concluded "there is no convincing evidence that saturated fat causes heart disease". The Observer, Sunday 23 March 2014; http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/mar/23/everything-you-know-about-unhealthy-foods-is-wrong

SE Asian peatsmog haze

Indonesia's forest fires feed 'brown cloud' of pollution choking Asia's cities; An acrid blanket of haze is hanging over the cities of south-east Asia, where 700,000 people a year die prematurely from the effects of air pollution. Industry and climate change are being blamed, but governments are slow to act; The Observer, Saturday 22 March 2014 http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/mar/23/indonesia-forest-fires-pollution-asia

Oil price worries

China Slowdown Seen Worst for Norway as Oil Key to Growth By Saleha Mohsin Mar 21, 2014 8:45 AM; http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-21/china-slowdown-seen-worst-for-norway-as-oil-key-to-growth-1-.html; "...Bjoernland’s research shows that 40 percent of the increase in oil prices over the last 15 years is due to growth in emerging markets, especially Asia. A depreciation in the Norwegian krone spurred by a slowdown in China could provide some relief although it would be a “temporary fix,” she said.... “The main spill-overs from the oil sector to the mainland economy the last few years haven’t come through discoveries or productivity gains in oil and gas, but through higher oil prices,” she said. “That has made some of the economy less competitive.”... A rise in oil prices and oil activity together explain 35 percent of the growth in Norway’s mainland economy, according to a study by Bjoernland and Leif Anders Thorsrud, a Ph.D. student at the Norwegian Business School.... Brent crude, the North Sea benchmark, has slid about 12 percent to $106 a barrel from a high in 2011... “There are substantial spill-overs from oil price fluctuation to how the government spends their resources,” Bjoernland said. “They are also vulnerable to oil price falls.”

Agriculture in Africa

Mind the gap: closing gender divide in African agriculture could reduce hunger; Investing in women farmers and improving childcare could bolster food security across the continent, World Bank finds
theguardian.com, Wednesday 19 March 2014;  http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/mar/19/women-closing-gender-divide-african-farming-reduce-hunger

Food mislabelling

Half of meat product samples contained DNA of wrong animals, council finds; Leicester survey backs up results from other areas, reinforcing fears of widespread meat contamination and mislabeling; The Guardian, Tuesday 18 March 2014; http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/18/half-meat-products-contained-dna-wrong-animals-council-survey

Omega 3 hokum?

Foods Rich in Omega-3 May Not Protect Heart, Study Finds By Nicole Ostrow  Mar 18, 2014;
Eating food high in fish oils such as omega-3 doesn’t reduce the risk of heart disease, raising questions about national guidelines promoting the fats as beneficial for cardiovascular health, researchers found. ... The analysis of 72 previous studies showed insufficient support for nutritional recommendations by groups such as the American Heart Association that advocate high consumption of polyunsaturated fats like omega-3 and omega-6, which is found in corn and sunflower oils, as well as some nuts and seeds....; http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-17/foods-rich-in-omega-3-may-not-protect-heart-study-finds.html

Lobster galore

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304017604579447152568114232?mod=djem10point ; As rising commodity costs boost the price of food staples such as beef and coffee, we find that an increase in supply is having the opposite effect on lobster. The crustacean is everywhere. Our story provides an overview of the lobster industry in the U.S., noting that the once-occasional treat has been showing up on an increasing number of menus from inexpensive chains to fine-dining restaurants—not to mention, debuting in quite novel ways. Sarah Nassauer reports that she has discovered lobster in a pappardelle, chorizo and mussels dish, in a salad with winter squash, as a base for sauce on a flounder, and incorporated into an airy chip served with lime aioli. And we have a handy graphic showing the anatomy of the lobster from a cooking point of view. http://online.wsj.com/news/interactive/LOBSTER0319?ref=SB10001424052702304017604579447152568114232&mod=djem10point

Commodity trading rationalisation

19 March 2014: J.P. Morgan has agreed to sell its commodities-trading business to Switzerland-based energy-trading company Mercuria Energy, according to a person familiar with the situation. The terms of the deal aren't yet clear, but when the bank first opened its books to potential buyers in October it valued the assets at $3.3 billion. The deal, which is expected to be completed in the summer, is the largest ever by Mercuria, a closely held company founded in 2004 by Swiss traders Marco Dunand and Daniel Jaeggi that is relatively unknown outside the physical commodities trading industry. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303802104579448533840087064?mod=djemalertMARKET

Is This the End for Blythe Masters?

Now that JPMorgan's physical commodities unit has been sold, what will become of its leader, the woman who oh by the way created credit default swaps?

http://mobile.businessweek.com/articles/2014-03-19/is-this-the-end-for-jpmorgans-blythe-masters?campaign_id=DN032014;   Mercuria, based in Geneva, was founded in 2004 by two former roommates and Goldman Sachsalumni and grew to become the world’s fourth-largest commodity trader, taking in $100 billion in revenue in 2013. (More details are likely to be found in my friend Kate Kelly’s forthcoming book, The Secret Club That Runs The World: Inside the Fraternity of Commodity Traders).

Price worries

Wsj.com. The Price Is Tight; "I can't believe how much milk is. Chicken is crazy right now, and beef—I paid $5 a pound for beef!" noted a married mother of three in Waukesha, Wis. Our story looks at the surging prices of food staples that are driving up the cost of groceries in the U.S. and pinching Americans still grappling with a sluggish economic recovery. The price increases pose a challenge for food makers, restaurants and retailers, which are left in the difficult position of deciding how much of the costs they can pass onto the consumer. We note that price increases are also taking a toll on consumers in some emerging markets, and we consider the implications by reflecting on history. In 2008, for example, a spike in food prices caused riots from Haiti to sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, and more recently, increasing food prices were a factor behind the Arab Spring protests. http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303287804579445311778530606?mod=djem10point&mobile=y

Olam takeover by Temasek

Temasek Unit’s Offer for Olam Is Credit Negative, Moody’s Says; By Lisa Pham and Colin Keatinge Mar 17, 2014; http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-17/temasek-unit-s-offer-for-olam-is-credit-negative-moody-s-says.html; The offer by Temasek Holdings Pte’s unit to take over Olam International Ltd. (OLAM) is credit negative for the Singapore state-owned investment company, according to Moody’s Investors Service. The acquisition, which values one of the world’s top three coffee and rice traders at S$5.3 billion ($4.2 billion), will put pressure on Temasek’s “portfolio liquidity,” Moody’s, which rates the investment firm at Aaa, said in a March 17 report. Olam’s 2 percent dividend yield in 2013 is also lower than Temasek’s return of about 3 percent, it said. “Bringing a new company under the Singapore umbrella negatively pressures portfolio liquidity,” Alan Greene, a senior credit officer at Moody’s, said in the report, which estimates 65 percent of Temasek’s S$215 billion investments are in Singapore dollars.

Singapore Business Times on 18 March 2014 reported that "market talk revealed that there have been at least three separate parties interested in acquiring Olam during the same period, potentially pushing up its share price as well..... Sime Darby, one of the largest palm oil producers in the world, is said to be one of them. Two Japanese trading companies are also said to be interested in Olam due to its exposure to African markets...." newslink: http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/premium/companies/others/moodys-olam-bid-temasek-credit-negative-20140318

Iskandar Malaysia and Singapore-Johor integration

More news on projects in Iskandar - The Edge Malaysia, 17 March 2014. Peter Lim via Soverus group and Sultan of Johor family via Rowsley Ltd.

Big plantations

EPO Retracts Arson Claims, Echo Cooperate Responsibilities; AllAfrica.com; Liberia: EPO Retracts Arson Claims, Echo Cooperate Responsibilities. By Alpha ... Following reports of fire outbreaks on the Equatorial Palm Oil (EPO) ...
 

Sarawak plans to sell CPO in Middle East; The Star Online; Our main buyers now are China, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh,” he told StarBiz. Masing said he had discussed with the Sarawak Oil Palm Planter ...
 

Felda Global explores asset injection to unlock value of logistics arm; The Star Online; KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's largest plantation company, Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV), is exploring options to unlock the value of its ...
 

The Malay Mail Online; FGV Plans To Expand Into Rubber Business In Cambodia Soon; Bernama; YANGON, March 9 (Bernama) -- After successfully venturing into Myanmar, Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV) plans to expand its footprint in ...
 

FGVB Delivers First 48 MT PME To Kuantan Fuel Terminal; Bernama; KUALA LUMPUR, March 13 (Bernama) -- Felda Global Ventures Biotechnologies Sdn Bhd (FGVB) has delivered its first 48 metric tonnes (MT) of palm ...
 

eco-business.com; Palm oil row erupts in Sumatra, leaving one dead; eco-business.com; This puts Singapore-listed Wilmar in a bad light, since the firm has only just implemented its 'no deforestation, no peat, no exploitation' policy last ...

The Hindu; How oil palm could kill orangutans; The Hindu; In December last year, agribusiness heavyweight, Wilmar, also agreed to an equivalent policy. Adani Wilmar, a joint venture of the Adani Group with ...

Market views

Wall Street Journal (blog); Palm Oil, Rubber on Different Paths; The outlook for palm oil demand this year is positive. Indonesia, the world's largest producer, is poised to knock off India as the world's top consumer of ...

 

CPO prices jumps to 17-month high on prolonged dry spell; The Star Online ... Corp up one sen to RM4.79, Felda Global up one sen to RM4.63 but PPB Group was down 10 sen to RM16.56 and KL Kepong four sen to RM23.86.

On palm oil certification & ngo campaigns

Progressive palm oil group opens door to companies, NGO's adopting zero deforestation policies; Mongabay.com; The Palm Oil Innovation Group (POIG), an alliance formed last year, has ... Palm Oil — and four non-profits: WWF, Rainforest Action Network (RAN), ...

San Francisco Chronicle; Greenpeace Targets P&G Over Its Role in Ongoing Palm Oil Controversy; brandchannel.com; Palm oil, common in detergents, shampoos, cosmetics and a myriad of ... India and China, together consuming one-third of global palm oil imports, are ...

Free Malaysia Today; Oil palm refiner Wilmar caves in to political pressure
Free Malaysia Today; The biggest importers of Malaysian palm oil are China, India, Pakistan, the ... Last month Sarawak Oil Palm Plantation Owners Association (Soppoa) ...

FoodNavigator.com; Mars commits to palm oil deforestation policy; FoodNavigator.com; The company also announced that it had joined The Forest Trust (TFT) to help in its aim to prevent deforestation. Since 2010, the company has bought ...

GreenBiz.com (blog); How Golden Agri could help make half of all palm oil sustainable; GreenBiz.com (blog); Late in February Golden Agri Resources (GAR) which produces an estimated five per cent of the world's palm oil, made a significant announcement in ...

Standard for sustainability; The Star Online;  According to MPOB Deputy Director-General (Research & Development) Dr Ahmad Kushairi Din, the MSPO will be transparent for the benefits of ...

Greenpeace - global force with deep pockets; Cincinnati.com; By using zip lines to hang banners protesting the use of palm oil on the sides of P&G's iconic twin towers Downtown, Greenpeace International ...

Photos: Greenpeace stages protest in rainforest destroyed for palm oil; Mongabay.com; On Monday, Greenpeace activists in Indonesia staged a dramatic protest in an area of rainforest freshly cleared for a new oil palm plantation in Central ...

Got Science? Momentum Building for Deforestation-Free Palm Oil; Huffington Post; Two of the world's largest palm oil suppliers -- Wilmar and Golden ... regions such as Malaysia, Indonesia, as well as parts of Africa and Latin America. http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/4943164

China environmental issues

China Wakes Up to Its Environmental Catastrophe. Cleaning up the environment is an urgent task for China's leaders, who face a backlash from enraged citizens; http://newsletters.businessweek.com/c/1168803/60398984a45ac407/46

Europe air pollution. Economist.com. Charlemagne. Paris in the smog. As a cloud of pollution descends, the government bans cars with even-numbered plates from entering the capital

Traveling to Beijing? Have You Considered Smog Insurance? China's leading travel company, Ctrip, teams up with a top insurer to offer "haze insurance," which pays out if the air quality is particularly horrible. http://newsletters.businessweek.com/c/1170105/60398984a45ac407/7

 

 

Air Pollution May Cause Genetic Harm in Kids, China Study Finds; By Bloomberg News Mar 20, 2014; Air pollution led to genetic changes that may have sapped learning skills in children whose mothers were exposed to a Chinese coal-fired power plant before it was shuttered a decade ago, researchers found.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-19/air-pollution-may-cause-genetic-harm-in-kids-china-study-finds.html

China working on uranium-free nuclear plants in attempt to combat smog; Beijing brings forward deadline for world's first thorium-fuelled facility in attempt to break reliance on fossil fuels; theguardian.com, Wednesday 19 March 2014; http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/19/china-uranium-nuclear-plants-smog-thorium

On smallholder sustainable agriculture

Mars's Shayna Harris, a Sloan School of Management grad, is helping global farmers make cocoa a more sustainable-and profitable-crop; http://newsletters.businessweek.com/c/1168803/60398984a45ac407/42

Aregbesola Empowers 200 Women With N5.2 Million Through Qiip Programme; AllAfrica.com; Nigeria: Aregbesola Empowers 200 Women With N5.2 Million Through Qiip ... He said this is a pilot programme for women in palm-oil processing ...

SE Asia haze and hotspot maps

http://www.weather.gov.sg/wip/web/ASMC

Nasa-funded study: industrial civilisation headed for 'irreversible collapse'?

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2014/mar/14/nasa-civilisation-irreversible-collapse-study-scientists; "... according to the historical record even advanced, complex civilisations are susceptible to collapse, raising questions about the sustainability of modern civilisation: "The fall of the Roman Empire, and the equally (if not more) advanced Han, Mauryan, and Gupta Empires, as well as so many advanced Mesopotamian Empires, are all testimony to the fact that advanced, sophisticated, complex, and creative civilizations can be both fragile and impermanent."
By investigating the human-nature dynamics of these past cases of collapse, the project identifies the most salient interrelated factors which explain civilisational decline, and which may help determine the risk of collapse today: namely, Population, Climate, Water, Agriculture, and Energy.
These factors can lead to collapse when they converge to generate two crucial social features: "the stretching of resources due to the strain placed on the ecological carrying capacity"; and "the economic stratification of society into Elites [rich] and Masses (or "Commoners") [poor]" These social phenomena have played "a central role in the character or in the process of the collapse," in all such cases over "the last five thousand years."...

Monbiot: Biodiesl incentives created "ecological disasters" and the same for biogas?

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot/2014/mar/14/uk-ban-maize-biogas
"It was also a brilliant idea to turn waste chip fat into biodiesel. But the incentives to produce biodiesel, often justified by the claim that they would make use of waste, have created multiple ecological disasters. They have encouraged farmers to feed cars rather than people and financed the conversion of rainforests in Indonesia, Malaysia and West Africa into oil palm plantations, driving orangutans and many other species to the brink of extinction. In most cases, biodiesel, as a result of the changes in land use, has much higher greenhouse gas emissions than the fossil fuel it replaces.....
Biogas is now going the same way. Provide the money to do the right thing and if you're not careful it will be used to do the wrong thing....Economic modelling commissioned by the government tested eight different mixes with which farmers could feed an anaerobic digester, to try to work out which were profitable. All of them included grass, wheat, maize or potatoes, and in some cases the models specified a higher tonnage of these specially grown crops than the waste the digesters are supposed to process. As maize has both a high yield per hectare and a high yield of biogas per tonne, it has become what the farming press calls the biogas "core crop". There could scarcely be a better formula for subverting everything biogas is supposed to achieve....The first and most obvious problem is that it means taking land out of food production. According to Farmers' Guardian, a biogas plant with a capacity of one megawatt, "requires 20,000-25,000 tonnes [of maize] a year, accounting for 450-500 hectares of land"....It reports that the area of maize being grown for biogas in the UK has trebled to 15,000 hectares in the past two years alone, and is likely to rise to 25,000 hectares next year. This is an astonishing rate of growth. If, as the National Farmers Union (NFU) advocates, 1,000 medium-sized biogas plants are built by 2020, and maize supplements the slurry and manure they process, that will mean the use of between 100,000 and 125,000 hectares...."

U.S. Court Declares Ecuador Judgment Against Chevron Corporation Fraudulent, Unenforceable

http://www.chevron.com/chevron/pressreleases/article/03042014_uscourtdeclaresecuadorjudgmentagainstchevroncorporationfraudulentunenforceable.news
March 4, 2014 – The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York today ruled that the $9.5 billion judgment against Chevron Corporation in Ecuador was the product of fraud and racketeering activity, finding it unenforceable... The nearly 500-page ruling finds that Steven Donziger, the lead American lawyer behind the Ecuadorian lawsuit against the company, violated the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), committing extortion, money laundering, wire fraud, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, witness tampering and obstruction of justice in obtaining the Ecuadorian judgment and in trying to cover up his and his associates' crimes..."Today's decision is unequivocal: The Ecuadorian judgment against Chevron is a fraud and is the result of criminal acts by a handful of corrupt lawyers looking to enrich themselves," said Hewitt Pate, Chevron vice president and general counsel. "Chevron's reputation was taken hostage and held for a multibillion-dollar ransom. Rather than give in and pay these criminals off, Chevron exposed the truth. Chevron is pleased with today's judgment. We are confident that any court that respects the rule of law will likewise find the Ecuadorian judgment to be illegitimate and unenforceable."....

Panasonic to pay expat workers in China pollution compensation

An interesting precedent on extra premium for expats working in China due to air pollution problem; "Japanese electronics company describes payments as 'premium for expatriates to compensate for different living environment..." http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/mar/13/panasonic-pay-pollution-expatriate-workers-china

US-EU TTIP deal and environmental standards

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/mar/14/free-trade-deal-eu-us-environment-ngos-sustainability; "Both the EU and US are adamant TTIP will not affect both regions’ environmental protection standards. But green groups, forewarned by past experiences of free trade agreements, are incredulous.... Any attempt to fully align the two regions would precipitate a disaster for environmental standards, particularly in the EU where the bar tends to be higher. But the aim of the negotiations is not ‘harmonisation’, as some green groups have suggested. Rather the language is of ‘mutual recognition’ or ‘equivalence’. This decreases the danger of standards being directly eroded.... This debate is essentially pragmatic. It’s not really about deregulation and liberalism but about diverging priorities. Corporations are in favour of regulations that are in favour of corporations. Hence their support of the creation of additional legal frameworks that will allow them to enhance their economic interests through ISDSs. Environment groups want to use state frameworks to protect the environment...."