Crude palm oil (CPO) (for July delivery contract) gained more than 1% to RM2,016 per ton on Tuesday (May 7), reflecting its recovery in past five months since touched its lowest level. However, the gain is considered as a technical factor given its weak fundamental.

State miner Aneka Tambang (ANTM), or Antam, booked a net profit of Rp171.67 billion in the first quarter (Q1) of 2019, declined 30.2% from Rp245.68 billion in the corresponding period of 2018, mainly due to higher operating expenses.  

It is April already, but President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo yet to sign president regulation for the development of electric vehicles. Cabinet members planned for the introduction of new regulation last month, but the presidential election campaigns might have contributed to the delay. While market participants await the regulation, global market for electric vehicle (EV) continues its impressive growth.

SGX-listed Geo Energy produced 7.9 million tons of coal in 2018, higher than 7.7 million it produced in 2017, with the majority of the shipment driven by sustainable, strong demand in China. However, the Group had reduced the coal production volume in the last quarter of 2018 with the weakening of coal prices.

Felda Global Ventures Holdings Berhad (FGV), the world’s largest palm oil producer, through FIC Properties Sdn Bhd, agreed to become a strategic partner of Rajawali Corpora (controlled by tycoon Peter Sondakh) in PT Eagle High Plantation Tbk (BWPT) over two years ago by acquiring shares of the Company. The deal was sealed entering 2017. In the middle of the process, we all know that Felda became a subject of corruption probes related to the 1MDB scandal which brought down Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Najib Razak. On April 8, 2019, Malaysia’s news outlets reported that Felda’s new Director General Datuk Dr. Othman Omar, who took over the office in October 2018, had submitted a police report at the local police commercial crime unit, claiming that Felda was cheated into entering into a “one-sided” deal for the sale and purchase of BWPT’s shares.

Global oil price fell from five-month highs on Tuesday (April 9) after the International Monetary Fund cut its global economic growth forecasts and as Russia signaled it might retreat from its production-cutting deal with OPEC, Reuters reported. A threat by Washington to slap tariffs on hundreds of European goods halted a rally in global equities, which also dragged on oil futures.

Medco Energi Internasional (MEDC) booked net loss of US$20.6 million last year against net profit of US$150.7 million in 2017. Higher finance costs and income tax expenses cut profit for the year from continuing operations to US$2.36 million only from US$155.4 million in 2017. There were also accounting profits in 2017 such as bargain purchase, gain on business combination, and reversal of impairment of assets that didn’t exist in 2018.

Coal miner Toba Bara Sejahtera (TOBA), linked to the family of Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan (coordinating minister for maritime affairs), booked a net profit of US$68.1 million in 2018, grew 64.5% from US$41.4 million in 2017, as sales rose 41% to US$438.4 million from previous US$310.7 million.

Holders of the Coal Contract of Work (PKP2B) are still waiting for the revision of the Government Regulation (PP) No. 23/2010 on Minerals and Coal Mining. The PP is still being evaluated but because of the nature of its importance it is already a subject of many discussions, one of which concerns the possibility of concession area reduction.

The future of the Masela Block remains uncertain. At the moment, the future of the development of the said Block is in the hands of the Special Task Force for Upstream Oil and Gas Business Activities (SKK Migas). The SKK Migas is still reviewing the Plan Of Development (POD) of the Masela Block that the INPEX Corporation had submitted.