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Peneroka Kelapa Sawit Dipersalahkan Juga
By Kapal Berita

25/2/2001 11:10 pm Sun

Kalau kroni cepat sahaja kerajaan membantu sehingga LRT mahu dibeli asetnya berjumlah RM6 bilion sebelum 30/4/2001 dan NPL dua bank dianjakkan supaya selamat para kroni. Tetapi kerajaan Mahathir tidak pula mengkritik pengurusan sistem LRT.

Beberapa hari lepas peneroka di Gua Musang dilapurkan berpendapatan cuma RM150 sebulan. Cuba bayangkan bagaimana mereka mahu menyara hidup dengan pendapatan sedemikian. Mahathir mengkritik peneroka yang tidak berjimat ketika harga minyak kelapa sawit sekitar RM2,400 se tan satu ketika dulu. Kadar terkini cuma RM750 setan (merosot 3 kali ganda). Dia juga menekankan peneroka sepatutnya menerima nasihat kerajaan agar menternak lembu di ladang. Sebenarnya isu ini masih diperingkat percubaan atau kertas kerja oleh beberapa agensi kerajaan (contohnya anak syarikat RISDA). Itupun setelah harga minyak kelapa sawit meragam (atau membaca beberapa tulisan Pak MT di beberapa laman reformasi?). Peneroka hanya mengikut nasihat agensi kerajaan kerana itulah menjamin mereka dapat duduk selama ini. Seperti biasa menteri pertanian mempunyai banyak kerja lain untuk kroni jika tidak sudah lama mereka turun ke ladang menyaksikan penderitaan rakyat ini.

Soalnya sempatkah lembu tersebut beranak pinak dalam waktu yang singkat. Lagipun penyakit haiwan begitu mudah merebak dan kerajaan asyik mengambil dasar tembak. Wang pampasan tidak usah diharap tetapi yang peliknya penternak khinzir mendapat jaminan bantuan yang hebat-hebat.

Banyak pengilang kesal kerajaan tidak memberi amaran awal tarif air akan dinaikkan tetapi Mahathir mengatakan kerajaan cuma menangguhkannya sahaja sekian lama. Dia mengatakan pengilang mempunyai kepakaran menggali air dari perut bumi sedangkan itu industri air mineral sahaja. Bukankah satu ketika dulu banyak kilang elektronik mengeluh bekalan air yang terganggu menyebabkan mereka kerugian begitu banyaknya? Sejak itu mereka dibenarkan menggali telaga sendiri tetapi banyak yang kelihatan membina tangki air kerana itu lebih masuk akal dan tidak memalukan syarikat mereka.

Berita ini juga menyebut projek Bakun akan dihidupkan juga. Soal besar kecil lain kira kerana itu menyumbang sesuatu yang besar ke dalam poket si dia yang telah lama mengidam projek raksaksa. Projek Bakun kini diawasi oleh TNB dan anda pun tahu siapa menguruskan TNB ketika ini.... Jamaluddin Jarjis!

Akhir sekali jangan lupa, minyak kelapa sawit diekspot ke Myanmar dan Petronas berminat dengan gas asli di sana. Mahathir 'bercuti' ke Myanmar di Yetagun sedangkan disitu tidak ada pusat peranginan mahupun hotel. (FEER 15/2/2001) Apakah yang dibuatnya disana, kerajaan tidak menghebohkannya. Tetapi untuk membawa orang Myanmar ke sini dan berdagang dengan mereka memerlukan permit juga. Siapa yang mendapatnya jika tidak orang pilihan Mahathir juga.

-Kapal Berita-




http://www.bernama.com/bernama/general/ge2402_26.htm


GOVT WILL HELP OIL PALM SMALLHOLDERS AFFECTED BY PRICE FALL - DR M

KUCHING, Feb 24 (bernama) -- Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad on Saturday gave an assurance that the Government will assist oil palm smallholders whose income has been affected by the fall in the price of the commodity.

"But the Government cannot be totally blamed in this matter," said the Prime Minister.

He said the smallhoders should have kept some of the income earned when the palm oil price rose to as high as RM2,400 a tonne sometime back.

"If we had saved during the good times, we will still be quite all right during the bad times," he told a press conference at the end of a two-day visit to Sarawak.

At present, the palm oil price has fallen to about RM750 a tonne.

The Prime Minister said the smallholders should also have taken heed of the Government's suggestion that they rear cattle in their smallholdings.

"If they had gone into cattle breeding then, they could during the present Hari Raya Haji season earn double the price for the cows," he said.

Dr Mahathir said Opposition parties should offer suggestions instead of criticising the Government for allegedly failing to help arrest the fall in the palm oil price.

"They are good at talking...ask them to come out with suggestions to help resolve this problem immediately. We will like to see them overcome this problem," he said.

On the possibility of prices of goods rising following the 20 to 75 percent increase in water tariffs in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putarajaya, Dr Mahathir said manufacturers should not raise the prices too much.

He said that when the Government increased the price of commodities like water and petrol, manufacturers should not raise their prices before determining the actual rise in their cost of production.

"For instance, if the Government raises water tariff and the manufacturer's water cost goes up by just two percent, he can only raise the price of his goods by two percent even if the water rate went up by 100 percent," he said.

On complaints by manufacturers that they were not notified of the water tariff increase, Dr Mahathir said the question did not arise.

"We have been saying for a long time that we want to increase but kept postponing....yet when we increase now, they say we did not give them notice," he said.

He said some of the factories had no reason to raise prices as they had their own tube wells and did not pay any tariff to the Government.

On the Bakun hydero-electric project, Dr Mahathir said the Government was going ahead with it.

"It has been taken over by the Government. The Government will build the Bakun Dam. The size will be decided according to the need...we will do it in a way that is not wasteful," he said. --BERNAMA





http://www.bernama.com/bernama/business/bu1602_5.htm

PALM OIL AFFECTED BY WORLDWIDE GLUT OF EDIBLE OILS

by Siti Hawa Othman

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 16 (Bernama) -- There is an oversupply of edible oils around the world at present and the situation for palm oil is no different.

Oversupply simply means that demand has slackened and prices have also fallen as a result.

"It's anybody's guess" seems to be the standard reply when traders are asked to make projections on the price direction of palm oil. Their reluctance to hazard a guess stems from the bearish fundamentals associated with palm oil at present.

"It is not only palm oil because other edible oils are also in surplus and each is competing with one another and are being offered cheaply, Toh Pang Huat, chairman of the Palm Oil Refiners Association of Malaysia (PORAM).

Not much can be done to reverse the present situation as the situation depended on supply and demand, he said in an interview.

But he acknowledged that buyers would be the ones who stood to gain now.

The price of CPO in the physical market is slightly above RM680 per tonne after opening the year at above RM800. The price had slumped from the RM1,000 level since early August 2000 after having traded at its highest of more than RM1,200 last year.

Early this month, private forecaster Ivan Wong released a bearish palm oil data for January, which projected output at one million tonnes, up 60,000 tonnes from December.

Stocks totalled 1.5 million tonnes from 1.41 million tonnes and exports were at 770,000 tonnes against 894,000 tonnes in the preceding month.

Besides the improved palm oil output, traders said other crops were also showing bumper harvests. They include soyoil in South America as well as coconut oil in the Philippines.

Perhaps the only comfort for the palm oil industry now is that China is coming into the market to buy.

One trader said the problem affecting the industry now was that export markets had not grown in proportion with that of output while purchases by China, India and Pakistan, although consistent, were not buying as much as they used to.

The grim situation has necessitated the need to reduce excess palm oil stocks by finding other uses for the commodity.

One trader felt that the most the government can do was to give exemptions on duties which it was already been doing.

Another possibility is to have a "bottom price" limit and having the government subsidising the price if it falls below the limit.

"It's quite scary now...sometimes the export cost is lower than the cost of production," the trader said when asked to comment on the current scenario.

"Many producers would hedge in the futures now. When the price was RM1,500 per tonne, they didn't have to hedge", he said.

While there was a glut in edible oils, he said soybean had an advantage over palm oil because it could stay liquid even in winter.

Bearing this in mind, he said China would prefer to take in more soyoil instead besides doing the United States a favour ahead of its (China's) entry into the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Another long term strategy to deal with the current palm oil surplus is to find other uses like converting palm oil into bio-diesel. One trader said this was the right time to do that because petroleum prices were getting higher.

However, the project which involves the Palm Oil Research Institute of Malaysia (Porim), Petronas and a few other companies would take another two more years to be realised.

In dealing with the current situation, the government has spared no efforts to overcome sagging prices by trying to increase palm oil consumption and exports via various methods. Among the options are free duty export quota for exporters, the palm oil credit payment arrangement (POCPA), the palm-diesel project and counter trade.

The government has granted selected companies another one million tonnes of duty free palm oil exports, of which in the last six months of 2000, the selected companies had exported 500,000 tonnes of duty free palm oil.

As for POCPA, it is being offered to Russia, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Egypt and North Korea. The total facility approved totalled US$135 million last year.

-- BERNAMA