Carotino delays Malaysia biodiesel start-up

11 July 2007 04:49  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Malaysian integrated biodiesel producer Carotino has delayed the start-up of its new 120,000 tonnes/year plant by about a month due to high feedstock crude palm oil (CPO) prices, a company source said on Wednesday.

The ringgit (M$) 100m ($29.1m) plant at Pasir Gudang, Johor state, was scheduled to start up this month, but this has been postponed to end-July or possibly August, the source said.

The company has a 60,000 tonne/year biodiesel plant at the same site.

"The market has been affected by high prices of CPO. The industry will not be able to survive and exploit palm methyl ester prices in western Europe or the US [if prices continue to remain high]," he said.

Many biodiesel plants in southeast Asia are running at low rates as feedstock CPO prices, which have surged by as much as 30% since March, made production unprofitable.

Carotino, however, expected CPO prices to settle lower in the near future, the source said.

($1 = M$3.44)

By: Jeanne Lim
+65 6780 4359

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