Vol. 17 (1) March 2017 – OPIEJ

Competitiveness of the Rapeseed Industry in the European Union

mpob_admin — Wed, 29 Aug 2018 00:24:19 +0000

This article is aimed at discussing the competitiveness of the rapeseed industry in the European Union (EU) in terms of production, trade and consumption in both the edible and non-edible sectors, especially for biofuels. For the purpose of analysing the information gathered, a SWOT analysis was used to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of EU’s rapeseed industry. In fact, the information in this article was collected primarily from various secondary sources. Nevertheless, not all of the information in this article was the latest because of the difficulty in sourcing for the most up-to-date data. The competitiveness of EU’s rapeseed industry depends on its usage (as rapeseed oil) in the biodiesel sector and on EU’s policy implementation with regard to crop-based biofuel post- 2020. It is hoped that this article will assist Malaysian oil palm industry players to have a better understanding of the developments pertaining to the EU rapeseed industry as well as gauge the challenges,if any, posed by EU.

Keywords: EU, rapeseed, biofuel, competitiveness

An Economic Study on Technical Efficiency among Independent Oil Palm Smallholders in Sabah and Sarawak

mpob_admin — Wed, 29 Aug 2018 00:23:22 +0000

Malaysia was once known as the largest producer and exporter of palm oil until its position was taken over by Indonesia. The limitation in Malaysia in terms of land availability for new planting of oil palm has pushed the focus on technology and resources to efficiency and productivity in oil palm cultivation. At present, Malaysia is the second largest palm oil producer in the world, and may well be the third in future if no holistic strategy is charted to maintain her premier position in the industry. Rapid development and the increasing trend in the number of smallholders planting oil palm have posed another challenge to maintaining high productivity of fresh fruit bunch (FFB) production. Therefore, studies on social perception and factors affecting efficiency among the independent oil palm smallholders are deemed important. The present study found that the FFB yield achieved by independent smallholders in Sabah and Sarawak can be further improved. Among the factors that contributed to inefficiency among these independent smallholders are inadequate fertiliser application, Ganoderma disease, high pest infestation, deficiency of nutrients in the oil palm, increasing cost of production and the unpredictable extreme weather conditions. The study focused only on Sabah and Sarawak as it is an extension of a previous study which had been carried out on smallholders in Peninsular Malaysia. It is recommended that the government continues its policy of assisting independent oil palm smallholders in order to maintain or increase their productivity.

Keywords: technical efficiency, independent oil palm smallholders, productivity

Crop-livestock Integration among the Oil Palm Smallholders

mpob_admin — Wed, 29 Aug 2018 00:22:19 +0000

This study attempts to analyse the extent to which integration in oil palm will continue to be practised by the smallholders and the extent to which integration will be able to increase their income. Data from a total of 140 oil palm smallholders were analysed in this study, using descriptive statistics. The findings show that the majority of the smallholders intend to continue integration in their oil palm in the future. On average, they are satisfied with the integration carried out over the years. However, only half of the smallholders agree that the integration is able to increase their family income. It is expected that the findings from this study will be used to enhance the practice of integration in oil palm smallholdings.

Keywords: smallholders, crop-livestock integration, continuity, productivity, income

The Effect of Soyabean Oil Price Changes on Palm Oil Demand in China

mpob_admin — Wed, 29 Aug 2018 00:21:08 +0000

China is the biggest market for oils and fats, with consumption indicating a steadily increasing trend from 25.7 million tonnes in 2005 to 36.6 million tonnes in 2015. Palm oil is one of the largest volume of oils and fats consumed by China, representing 8.0% of the total consumption for 2015. Palm oil is thus the largest component of the oils and fats imports, particularly for the instant noodles industry. The price of palm oil substitutes, especially soyabean oil, highly influences the demand for palm oil. China’s huge crushing capacity to satisfy the demand for soyabean meal also means that there is a necessity to import large quantities of soyabean, which subsequently increases the local supply of soyabean oil, thus affecting the demand for palm oil. This study attempted to examine the short-run and the long-run relationships between China’s palm oil imports and palm oil prices, soyabean oil prices, soyabean meal prices and domestic income, using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) method with data from 1980 to 2015. The result of the bound test indicates that there is a long-run relationship between the studied variables. The empirical results reveal that domestic income, measured by the gross domestic product (GDP), and the difference between soyabean oil and palm oil prices have positive significant relationships with palm oil demand in China in the long-run. At the same time, soyabean meal price show a significant negative relationship with palm oil demand in China. The result indicates that GDP, the difference between soyabean oil and palm oil prices, and soyabean meal price play important roles in determining palm oil demand in China.

Keywords: palm oil, soyabean, China, ARDL, GDP