Malaysia to increase seafood exports to Middle East

DUBAI, Oct 31 (Bernama)-Malaysian seafood exports to the Middle East topped 11.7 million dirham (RM10.6 million) last year as a result of the government's efforts to develop the fisheries and aquaculture industry.To further expand Malaysia's market share in the industry, the country's Department of Fisheries (DOF) is participating in Sea Food Expo 2007 to tap into Dubai's rapidly expanding fisheries sector, which soared to 735 million dirham (RM668 million) last year.DOF director of planning, development and international division, Mohamad Shaupi Derahman, said the expo was an effective venue to promote the country's products and at the same time expand its market presence."The department recognises the promise that our seafood sector holds to establish our country as a major contributor and a top source of high-quality seafood products in the global arena," he said in a statement issued by the expo's organiser Orange Fairs & Events.Malaysia, he added, was investing in the advancement of its seafood manufacturing processes and augmenting its production in order to fully utilise the potential of the industry.Malaysia's potential-laden food processing sector represents 10 percent of the nation's total manufacturing output and two-thirds of its total food exports worth RM10 billion.Last year, DOF allocated RM160 million for the advancement of the country's fisheries breeding, cultivation and processing by prioritising cage culture, hatchery, deep-sea fishing and ornamental fish culture.As a result, Malaysia has recorded an impressive 3,636.84 metric tonnes of seafood exports with a value of 11.7 million dirham to the Middle East.Malaysia's seafood products are currently available in 80 countries and the Malaysian seafood market generates an annual revenue of more than RM6 billion.Malaysia is also setting its sights on further penetrating the global market for halal food, which has an estimated value of over 2.0 trillion dirham through producing, distributing and promoting the country's seafood products at the three-day Sea Food Expo 2007 which ended Wednesday.Some of the high-quality halal seafood products on display at the show are frozen white shrimps, cooked and peeled sea shrimps, cuttlefish and squids, raw peeled shrimps, frozen tiger prawns, surimi-based products and tuna floss.Meanwhile, Orange Fairs & Events' director Raees Ahmed said the demand for quality seafood products in the Middle East has seen a substantial growth over the years.Due to the strong demand, especially in the United Arab Emirates, large seafood producers are drawn to the regional market with the aim of exploiting the opportunities in supplying the vast amount of seafood required, he said.The expo will provide the 12-member DOF delegation with an effective venue to acquire and build a strong reputation in the market and eventually establishing itself as a halal food hub and a leading seafood producer in the world, according to him.

Scomi secures RM157 Million contract in Turkmenistan

Scomi Group has secured a contract valued at approximately RM157 million in Turkmenistan for the provision of integrated services in drilling fluids and drilling waste management.
The scope of the contract includes the provision of mud chemicals, mud-engineering services, solids control services, skip rentals and thermal plant services awarded by Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd in Turkmenistan

Contrarion vs smart money investors

1. It takes courage and patience to be a contrarian but as a follower, we need to make sure we follow the right investors in guiding us to the market's direction.
2. Can we trust what analysts say as they always make mistakes in their forecast?
3. Investors are often torn between whether to follow the analysts or to do the opposite, as some analysts seem to make mistakes in their forecasts.
For example, when certain analysts were quite bullish about the stock market, the market suddenly underwent a correction. When analysts said the market would crash soon, the market moved up even higher.
This has caused some confusion to a lot of investors on whether to listen to analysts or not.
4. We can choose to be either a contrarian or a follower of the smart money investors. Being a contrarian, you assume that everyone else is stupid, so you will do better by doing the opposite of what the majority of investors are doing.
When the investors are selling stocks in panic, you will be buying because you believe that the market will recover soon.
However, as a result of greed and fear, not many investors can be contrarians, especially when investors are highly influenced by what they read in the newspaper.
When a market crashes, most investors do not have the courage to buy shares because they fear that the shares that they purchase today may get even cheaper tomorrow. During the market crash in the year 1997/98, our market dropped for about 18 months from March 1997 to September 1998.
Unless you have plenty of bullets to continue averaging down your purchases, it makes more sense to start purchase stocks only when the market is on the way up rather than trying to average down your costs when you unable to see the bottom.
During a bull market, a contrarian will continue to sell stocks when the majority of investors are chasing stocks. If the market continues to go up, he will blame himself for selling stocks too early.
He will get very uneasy, especially when he has sold out most of his stocks, yet there are no signs of a market correction. Most of time, the moment he starts to buy back his stocks, the market collapses.
Hence, that is the reason why some investment gurus say a contrarian is only correct at the turning point of a market, but is always wrong the rest of the time.

Follow the smart money investors
In order to not regret, some retailers like to follow smart money investors’ movements. In theory, smart money investors are those who have certain privileged information that the majority of the general public do not.
Bond, currency and commodity traders are smart money investors because they have certain key financial information that the general public do not have access to.
To a lot of retailers, the Government-related fund managers or foreign fund managers are seen as smart money investors. They will buy shares whenever these fund managers are accumulating stocks.
They feel that these smart investors know what they are doing, so they should “jump on the bandwagon” while there is still time.
However, these fund managers do not make the right investment decisions all the time as they also make mistakes in timing their purchases.
Retailers need to be careful when they follow smart money investors as these investors have plenty of cash to average down their purchases. Besides, they have the discipline to cut losses, which a lot of retailers lack.
Lastly, bond, currency and commodity markets are more efficient as not many retailers are involved in these markets.
According to Eugene F. Fama, an efficient market is a market where the values of all assets and securities at any time fully reflect all available information.
Hence, we should view seriously whenever there are any big price movements in bond, currency and commodity.
For example, if there is a sharp drop in oil prices in the near future, there is a likelihood that we may fall into a global recession as it confirms the decline in global demand for oil.

Offshore Ringgit Trading

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 24 (Bernama) -- The ringgit, now trading at 3.36 to the U.S. dollar, is likely to appreciate further bolstered by market forces if Malaysia scraps the nine-year old ban on its offshore trading.In supporting the move, the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research said the authorities should hasten scrapping the ban as early as next year rather than later as it would boost investment opportunities in the country.The move would allow market forces to push the ringgit higher as it has been in a short leash all the time with "much" controls in place, Prof. Dr. Mohamed Ariff, the executive director of the private think-tank, said here Wednesday."If you remove that (offshore trading ban), it will the give the ringgit a much longer leash to go further," he said when responding to Bank Negara Governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz's comments that Malaysia would consider removing the ban when it has a very developed and vibrant foreign exchange market."It would also provide opportunities to utilise the excess liquidity that the country has in the financial system," he said.Currency analysts predict the ringgit to likely to touch 3.00 by end-2008 even without the lifting of the ban due to the dollar's downtrend and Malaysia's strong economic fundamentals."The ringgit is strengthening, the reserves are so high and the economy is doing fairly well, so I can't see why we can't do it," he said.Dr Zeti, speaking to the media in Washington Tuesday, however declined to give a date when the offshore trading of the ringgit would be allowed.Dr Mohamed Ariff said: "I am happy that the central bank is thinking about it (but) it better be done early next year rather than at the end of next year."Malaysia banned offshore trading of the ringgit in 1998 when imposing capital controls during the height of the Asian financial crisis to ward off unscrupulous hedge funds speculating against the Malaysian currency.Speculation against the ringgit led the unit to fall to as low as RM5.20 against the dollar at one point in 1998 from a high of 2.42 against the greenback in July 1997 just before the financial crisis hit the region.Among the capital controls was pegging the ringgit to the U.S. dollar at RM3.80, which was removed on July 22, 2005.Currently, the local currency is pegged against a basket of undisclosed currencies.Dr Mohamed Ariff said anticipation of a further downtrend in the dollar has given an opportunity for the ringgit to further strengthen in the coming months.As a result, "we retain our target of 3.35 per U.S. dollar by the end of this year but the local currency could reach 3.00 by the end of next year," he said.MIER said the ringgit has appreciated by 4.5 percent against the U.S dollar since end of December 2006.At the opening bell today on the foreign exchange market, the ringgit strengthened at 3.3680/3710 against the U.S. dollar compared with 3.3735/3765 at yesterday's closing.

MIER maintains GDP forecast for 2007 at 5.70%

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 24 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER) has kept its projection of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) for this year at 5.7 percent but revised its 2008 GDP forecast to 5.4 percent from 5.8 percent.The private think tank said it was maintaining the 2007 forecast due to stronger growth in the services sector and cited the US subprime woes as one of the contributory factors for its downward revision of next year's GDP projection."In the light of the IMF (International Monetary Fund) downward forecast revision for the world economy, we are lowering Malaysia's growth forecast for next year, barring a recession in the US economy," MIER executive director Dr Mohamed Ariff Abdul Kareem said Wednesday.He said although domestic demand is expected to be propped up prior to the general elections, the global economy could grow at a slower pace owing to the fallout from the sub-prime turmoil.The rise in oil prices will be another factor that has the potential to derail the global economy, he told reporters after releasing MIER's economic outlook for Malaysia for the third quarter of 2007.Asked whether Malaysia will raise its interest rate in the near future, Mohamed Ariff said there was no urgency to increase the country's interest rate at the moment due to a glut of liquidity in the system.According to him, the abundant liquidity at present will keep interest rate down."I think Bank Negara Malaysia will resist any temptation to increase the rate in the foreseeable future," he said.However, Mohamed Ariff said should the government decide to cut oil and gas subsidies and raise toll rates next year, it could result in a further increase of the inflation rate and push the authorities to raise the interest rate."There are concerns that fuel and gas subsidies may be cut again early next year, aside from the regular hike in toll rates. This can lead to changes in our forecast," he said."We expect the inflation rate to be below three percent next year but it might increase, depending on adjustments made by the government," he added.MIER has estimated the inflation rate to ease to 2.2 percent this year from 3.6 percent last year on the back of a stronger ringgit.The think tank has forecast the inflation level to be at 2.7 percent next year.The central bank has kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 3.5 percent at 11 policy meetings held since April last year.

Perisai mum on new partners

KUALA LUMPUR: Oil and gas support services company Perisai Petroleum Teknologi Bhd is keeping mum on corporate developments pertaining to talks or the progress of a new major shareholder or shareholders in the company.
Managing director Nagendran Nadarajah said the company was open to negotiations with parties which were interested in taking a stake in it, so long as it would add value.
However, he did not want to identify the parties, if any, that the company was talking to or place a deadline for revealing the progress of negotiations.
"We're always discussing with potential new shareholders," he told reporters after the company's EGM on Monday.
He said any ongoing negotiations would depend on the right timing and whether it would benefit shareholders.
It was reported in a daily that new major shareholders were expected to emerge in Perisai Petroleum pending a major restructuring exercise.
The new shareholder might emerge via Perisai Petroleum's acquisition of oil and gas assets.
At the EGM, shareholders approved the sale of 55% stake in subsidiary Allied Marine & Equipment Sdn Bhd to Worldclass Inspiration Sdn Bhd for RM39.5mil.
Meanwhile, Nagendran said the company would be focusing on deepwater and marginal field developments via its SIRPS (self-installing, relocatable, production and storage) facility, which it was developing with the Atkins Group, a British-based engineering consultancy.

Kencana Petroleum sees earnings of over RM70 million next year

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 22 (Bernama) -- Kencana Petroleum Bhd aims to post earnings of over RM70 million for the financial year ending July 31, 2008 on the back of existing business and increasing oil prices, executive chairman, Datuk Mokhzani Mahathir said Monday.The group also expects to post a growth of 15-20 percent yearly, with its orderbook having reached RM1.8 billion."I am very confident of our existing business, coupled with the way we see oil prices are going today and the rush to develop fields," Mokhzani told reporters after the signing of an agreement today between the group's subsidiary, Kencana Petroleum Ventures Sdn Bhd and Mermaid Drilling (Singapore) Pte Ltd to form Mermaid Kencana Rig 1 Pte Ltd (MKR1).MKR1, of which Kencana Petroluem owns 25 percent stake, will allow the group to expand its oil and gas services through the operation of offshore drilling rigs worldwide.To support the operation of MKR1 locally, Kencana Mermaid Drilling Sdn Bhd was set up to provide drilling services and act as an operator of tender rigs.The firm, in which Kencana Petroleum owns a 60 percent stake, has already applied for the necessary Petronas licences to market and operate drilling rigs in Malaysia and expects to receive it by year end.However, Mokhzani added that the new venture will only have an impact on the group's earning late 2009.Meanwhile, he said the group has the capacity to take on new projects as it has only utilised about 70 percent of its fabrication yard that spans 123 acres, as its annual fabrication capacity has increased to 40,000 tonnes after acquiring Torsco Sdn Bhd last August.Asked on mergers and acquisitions, Mokhzani said the group was currently talking to several local players who have the expertise and technologies."We don't profess to have all the technologies that we need to develop the company. So there are firms coming to talk to us to invest in them, to see if we can be a platform for them to grow," he said."These are small local companies doing very good work with experts and technologies. They just don't have solid financial foundation to go on. Hopefully between that and what we are doing in house, all the projects we are working on, we will be able to give them something to stand by," he noted.Mokhzani also explained that the group's work now was equally split between local and overseas ventures.Although Kencana Petroleum is still dedicated to Malaysian clients, he said the "Middle East is still in our plans and we are also very keen on the Gulf of Thailand.""We do get a lot of work coming from the engineering companies from India and Australia. But the amount of work in our own backyard is enough for us to chew on," he said.

Malaysia's international reserves at RM336.5 Billion

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 22 (Bernama) -- The international reserves of Bank Negara Malaysia amounted to RM336.5 billion, equivalent to US$98.5 billion, as at Oct 12, 2007.The reserves position is sufficient to finance 8.6 months of retained imports and is 7.2 times the short-term external debt, the central bank said in a statement today

New incentives for IDR

PUTRAJAYA, Oct 9 (Bernama) -- The Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA) today announced its latest Incentive and Support Package for Node 1 of the Iskandar Development Region (IRD) which will see the package extended to approved developers and approved development managers.In a statement here today, IRDA said the approved developers would be entitled to exemption from income tax up to year of assessment 2015 on statutory income from the disposal of any right in or over land within the approved node."They will also be exempted from income tax up to year of assessment 2020 on statutory income from the rental or sale of buildings within the approved node, and exemption from withholding tax on payment made to non-residents for services, interests and royalties up to Dec 31, 2015," it said.It said the approved development managers would be entitled to exemption from tax on statutory income from the provision of management, supervisory or marketing services to an approved developer until the year of assessment 2020, and exemption from withholding tax on payments made to non-residents for services up to Dec 31, 2015.IRDA said the latest incentive package followed the previous announcement on the initial ISP in March, which was originally intended for IDR-status companies and foreign knowledge workers."Besides exemption from income tax for a period of 10 years, IDR-status companies are entitled to exemption from witholding tax on payments of services and royalties to non-residents for a period of 10 years from commencement of operations," it said.IRDA also announced the set up of one-stop centre which promised to reduce red tape and simplify approval processes for investors.Meanwhile, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the government saw the need to further kickstart investments in IDR because it estimated RM40 billion was required over the first five years."The government has undertaken RM4.3 billion investment and that's why further investment would be encouraged."Since the private investment will be the catalyst for growth, there is a need to offer investors attractive fiscal and non-fiscal incentives and this is made known today," he told reporters after the meeting on the latest development of IDR at his office here.He said discussions with main investors revealed the need for fiscal incentives, the need for more efficient approval system with regard to setting up a 24-hour one-stop centre with offshore values and freedom of access to human capital."At the same time, we also meet the requirement of individual investor, as far as possible to customise this package."Certain investors have specific needs and there are very big investors too ... I would not be in the position to tell you specifically what, but the point is that it is possible to have discussions with them and to decide on their specific needs, which is part of the attractive package offer," he said.Commenting on the development there, Abdullah said: "I'm happy with the progress that has been achieved. The planning for the Node 1 is progressing very well and soon I hope by early next year, (we) can begin and start implementing the projects that have already been decided."

Malaysia among the top 20 favourite destinations for FDI

BANGKOK, Oct 5 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is ranked among the world's top 20 attractive economies for foreign direct investment (FDI), according to the World Investment Prospects Survey 2007-2009 FDI released Friday.The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) says Malaysia is ranked 14th, ahead of 15th place Indonesia and Singapore one rung lower, as five Southeast Asian countries remain among the favourite FDI destinations.The top 10 countries in the survey are led by the world's two fastest growing - China and India - followed by the United States, Russia, Brazil, rising star Vietnam, Britain, Australia, Mexico and Poland.Others in the top 20 are Germany (11), Thailand (12), France (13), Italy (17), Ukraine (18), Japan (19) and Canada (20).According to the survey, South, East and Southeast Asia, which offer major locational advantages such as market growth and size, cost and quality of labour, are consolidating their position as the most preferred region of international investors.In fact, almost two thirds of the companies which participated in the survey say they have plans to invest in either China or India or both."While, in the view of investors, they share the same advantages in terms of labour costs and size/growth of market, India ranks higher in terms of skilled labour," it notes.Unctad says FDI flows are expected to increase over the next three years despite concerns about global financial instability and protectionism in some countries.According to it, the survey results are based on 192 respondents among the largest transnational corporations (TNCs), and that more than two-thirds of them plan to increase their FDI expenditure in each of the years from 2007 to 2009.The survey shows that FDI is expected to increase across practically all sectors and home countries due to continued world economic growth, high profitability and the availability of external finance.Greenfield investments (the establishment of new affiliates in foreign countries) will be more commonly used as an entry mode into developing economies while investment in developed countries will more frequently take the form of mergers and acquisitions.Unctad says access to large and growing markets will be by far the main driver of FDI growth - this factor was mentioned as a major investment determinant by more than half of the TNC respondents - followed by access to resources (17 percent of respondents), especially skilled labour.On the other hand, geopolitical and financial instability are mentioned by companies as the major uncertainties that could potentially hinder their FDI expansion, as well as possible increase in protectionism.The survey says more than 80 percent of the respondents mention these three risks as important or very important.