Anticipating 2014 Palm Oil Price Direction:
Update on Indonesia Biodiesel Policy and Progress
Ms. Ivy Ng
Ivy Ng is currently the Regional Head of Plantations and Head of Malaysia Research in CIMB. She is a CFA charterholder and holds a BSc in Economics from the London School of Economics. She has been covering the palm oil sector since the mid-90s and expanded her coverage to include the regional palm oil companies since 2005.
She joined CIMB in 2005 and currently covers regional plantations and conglomerates. Ivy has been an investment analyst since 1994, with prior stints in Affin-UOB, Peregrine Research, Hwang-DBS Securities and GK Goh Research.
Ivy was ranked number one by Asiamoney polls in the Malaysian industrial sector in 2014 to 2016 and utilities sector in 2007 and 2008. She was also voted Malaysia’s best power analyst in 2007 and best plantation analyst in 2008 by The Edge.
We hosted an Indonesia Plantation Day with a focus on the country’s biodiesel efforts. Overall, we are more optimistic on the biodiesel programme as we gather that the biodiesel tender is not the only avenue Pertamina is pursuing to secure biodiesel to meet the higher mandate, contrary to some expectations. The government appears ready to overcome any challenges to ensure the mandate is met. We expect the second biodiesel tender results by Pertamina to show a favourable take-up rate as the pricing mechanism for biodiesel has improved. If successfully executed, this could raise the biodiesel usage in Indonesia from 600k-1m kl in 2013 to around 3.3m-4m kl. This will, in turn, reduce the palm oil exports from Indonesia and boost CPO price prospects. We believe the market has not priced in the additional biodiesel demand potential from Indonesia due to concerns over pricing and logistics challenges. However, a successful tender and improved pricing for biodiesel could change market’s perception. We maintain our view that the government will raise its usage to 2m kl in 2014, lower than its target of 3.3m-4m kl. But there could be an upside surprise if it is able to secure most of the intended supply through the tender process.
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