KPB Nusantara, the joint marketing office of state plantations, withdrew six out of ten CPO packages auctioned off Monday (Aug 25) due to low bids. In the futures market, CPO was volatile, closing higher by 1% after losing more than 2% in morning session.

Pretty much as predicted by some, the benchmark November 2014 contracts of crude palm oil (CPO) dropped to RM2000 for the first time this year. In fact this is the lowest since October 2009. Should you worry?

Komatsu construction machinery sales in July 2014 declined 5.3% from July 2013. Interestingly, sales to mining sector inched up 0.4%, while agriculture collapsed almost 30%.

Falling crude oil prices adds more pressures to coal producers in the world, including Indonesia. Shares of major coal producers end mostly lower Wednesday. BHP Billiton collapsed almost 4% in Sydney, while Shenhua shed another 0.85% in Hong Kong. Companies in this edition: Golden Energy Mines, Renuka Coalindo, ATPK Resources, and Sekawan Intipratama.

Shares of Geo Energy Resources Ltd advanced 1.85% on SGX this morning following completion of US$55 million acquisition of 65% shares in Borneo International Resources. This is a pricy acquisition. In the meantime, China Shenhua, one of the world’s largest coal producers, provided yet another bleak picture of China’s coal market.

China Coal Energy Co Ltd, one of the region’s largest coal producers, relies more on cheaper imported coal and cut its domestic sales of self-produced coal. Last month, for example, the company imported 780,000 tons of coal, skyrocketed 143.8% from July 2013. For the first seven months of 2014, its import volume doubled to 3.26 million tons.