It wants to own 26,000ha of oil palm estates in the next two years JOHOR BARU: Mid-sized plantation company Kim Loong Resources Bhd plans to double its oil palm cultivation acreage in the next one or two years, said executive chairman Gooi Seong Lim. He said the company would then have almost 26,000ha of oil palm estates from close to 13,000ha now. “We are looking for ‘green land’ in Johor and Sabah,’’ he told StarBizafter the company EGM recently, referring to land not yet planted with oil palm. Gooi said apart from Kota Tinggi in Johor and Keningau, Sabah, the company would also be looking at Sarawak as the state still had vast tracks of land for oil palm cultivation. “We prefer to buy green land instead of existing estates as the latter option involves more money,’’ Gooi said. Managing director Gooi Seong Heen said it was a better to start cultivation from scratch as the company could get a better idea of the cost involved. However, he said it was quite difficult to determine now how much investment would be involved in its estate expansion project as there were many factors to be considered, such as location, soil conditions and accessibility to the area and the infrastructure available. “We also have to look at the time taken by both parties (the company and the land owner) for negotiations before signing on the dotted line,’’ he said. Seong Heen said the company was still upbeat on the price of crude palm oil (CPO) price as it had risen to RM1,800 per tonne from RM1,520 last December. At the EGM, shareholders approved the company’s proposed share buyback of up to 10% of its issued and paid-up share capital. As at Jan 9, the company’s issued and paid-up capital stood at about RM302mil, comprising over 302 million shares. The Star Newspaper 2-Mar-09
