An Indonesian plantation company has filed the first patent applications for a hybrid variety of palm oil seeds and their production that it expects will increase the crop's yield by several hundred per cent.

Indonesia and Malaysia have long denied that their tropical forests are being burned to make way for lucrative palm oil plantations. It seems they've been lying through their teeth. Between 1990 and 2005 palm plantations rocketed by 1.87 million hectares in Malaysia and by more than 3 million hectares in Indonesia.

Oil palm is one of the world's most rapidly expanding equatorial crops. The two largest oil palm-producing countries

Mixing of cheap coconut oil with costly edible oils is rampant in south Adulteration is posing a serious threat to the edible oil trade in south India. Mixing of refined coconut oil, made from poor quality copra, with other oils is on the rise. As coconut oil is the cheapest edible oil available in the market, mixing it with other oils is turning into a profitable business here. The practice is rampant in the case of palm oil as its availability is low due to high global prices and import restrictions. A few years back, when coconut oil had crossed Rs 65 a kg, it was mixed with refined palm kernel oil, which was cheaper then. But now, when the retail prices of palm oil have crossed Rs 68-70 a kg, while coconut oil remains stable at Rs 60, the trend has reversed. According to copra dealers, the palm oil refiners, especially in Tamil Nadu, have large stocks of low quality copra, which is available at Rs 3,400-3,500 a quintal. "The refined oil made from this is ideal for mixing with other costly oils,' they said. All edible oil prices except for coconut oil are ruling above Rs 70 a kg. Ground nut oil and sunflower oil have a retail price of Rs 95 a kg while gingelly oil is costing Rs 100. Meanwhile, coconut oil prices are also on the rise. Today in Kochi, prices were hovering around Rs 5,650 a quintal, up by Rs 50.

the European Union is planning to ban certain biofuels, saying their social and environmental impacts are dangerous. eu is likely to review its draft policy on biofuels to effect the ban. The

While cutting down rainforests to grow palm oil for biofuels may constitute "madness" (1 December 2007, p 50), burning other vegetable oils is no more sane, nor less damaging to Indonesia's rainforests. Indonesia is expected to increase its palm oil production by more than half over the next 10 years. This is driven, in part, by China, which used to buy rapeseed oil from Europe for food and for industrial uses, but is switching to Indonesian palm oil because Europe's cars and trucks now burn the rapeseed oil as a biofuel.

coconut farmers in Kerala have got tentative relief with the Kerala High Court lifting its stay on a ban on palm oil import through Kochi port. On November 20, the court said no consignment of palm

This report examines the history and status of the biofuel industry in Malaysia, focusing on government support policies.

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