Top officials of a local firm Eco Enerhiya Renewables, Inc. said the company will put up a P1.7 billion, 10-megawatt (MW) biomass power plant in Quezon province. The power plant will use coconut, one of the region?s main crops, as feedstock, unlike other biomass plants in the country that utilize sugarcane as feedstock to generate power. Jose Antonio Lopez, director for business development told reporters that construction work has been started. The target is to have commercial operation by June 2011. The company has already secured a supply agreement with a local electric cooperative in the province for the plant, which will be built on a 14-hectare area. The company is aiming to build 24 biomass plants with about 10 MW in capacity each in the next 12 years, mostly in Mindanao. ?We have the sites for all 24 but they are in different stages of development,? Mr. Lopez said.

       Rotterdam trader Catz International, in its annual update on desiccated coconut, anticipates prices to strengthen in 2010/11 citing demand as showing signs of picking up in a market of tight supply, The Public Ledger reports. The company noted that renewed buying confidence has started to pick up again which should exert added pressure on the supply side. With some producers sold out up to two to three months in advance, supply is bound to be tight once demand pick up further. Catz views that over the long term world producers will be unable to cope up with demand, especially for vegetable oils, which will reduce availability of raw material for desiccated coconut.

       In the same report above, Catz also noted that Sri Lanka?s exports have declined over the last few years, with projections pointing to 37,000 MT this year from 38,500 MT in 2008, 42,990 MT in 2007 and 44,900 MT in 2006. One of the reasons for the decline mentioned was the lower quality standards of Sri Lankan material compared with that of the Philippines in particular, and, in some instances, that from Indonesia. However, the main reason remains the high import duty the Sri Lankan authorities impose on edible oils. ?With this protective measure, domestic coconut oil prices are kept artificially high, enabling local oil millers to pay high prices for the raw coconuts. This makes it difficult for the desiccated coconut manufacturers to produce a product which can be sold competitively in the world market,? Catz commented.

       Turning to the Philippines, the world?s largest desiccated coconut producer, Catz said that output in the country also was down from prior year?s figures, with exports up to October 2009 standing at 98,417 MT, down by 17% from last year at 118,641 MT. It estimated that final exports for 2009 could end up at around 115,000 MT. Despite the huge acreage of coconut plantations, raw material supply remains the main burden for Philippine desiccated coconut producers as they are in continuous competition with the coconut oil mills. Worldwide demand for vegetable oil is expected to increase at a phenomenal rate in the coming years, so the competition for raw material will intensify further.

       Catz believes Indonesia?s final 2009 production will be similar to that of last year at about 50,000 MT. It observed that certain parts of the country are getting much less rain of late than the historical averages and this is creating a more erratic and tighter supply situation. In contrast with other origins, Vietnamese exports are showing a gradual increase each year with 2009 shipments expected to reach about 35,000 MT, which would be 15% ahead of those of 2008. This is mainly covering traditional Sri Lankan demand, which, due to the high Sri Lankan prices, is now being channeled to Vietnam. However, the report warned that with nut supply already at a significant bottleneck, the country will not be able to maintain its present growth in the years to come, particularly as China has developed a voracious appetite for raw Vietnam coconuts.

       Figures from the Coconut Development Authority (CDA) in Sri Lanka show the country exported 3,198 MT of desiccated coconut in October 2009. This is a sharp drop by 39.9% from the figure in the same period year-ago at 5,319 MT. The shipment was worth USD3.863 million, markedly declining by 57.5% from USD9.096 million year-ago. Calculated average price was USD1,207.94/MT FOB, a massive drop by 29.4% from prior year at USD1,710.09/MT. Total export in January-October 2009 at 33,490 MT, however, augmented by 19.7% a comparable year-ago period data at 27,977 MT.

       The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has reaffirmed the safety of Monsanto?s genetically modified (GM) GT73 rapeseed, saying that it is unlikely to have a detrimental effect on human or animal health or the environment when used for food and feed. This came after EFSA was asked by the European Commission to assess the impact on human and animal health as well as the environment from the renewal of two applications covering the continued marketing of existing food produced from rapeseed GT73 (refined oil and food additives) and existing feed materials and feed additives produced from it.

       A new study has found that chlorophyll and its derivative chlorophyllin are effective in limiting the absorption of aflatoxin in humans. Aflatoxin is produced by a fungus that is a contaminant of grains including corn, peanuts and soybeans; it is known to cause liver cancer and can work in concert with other health concerns, such as hepatitis. Levels of aflatoxin are carefully regulated in the United States, but are often found in the food supplies of developing nations, especially those with poor storage facilities.

       Oregon State University scientist George Bailey, a distinguished professor of environmental and molecular toxicology, pioneered studies of aflatoxin in China, where he found that in one region, one out of every 10 adults died from liver cancer. But what has the science world particularly intrigued with in this follow-up study is the methodology used by the researchers - a new ?Phase O? approach that safely tests low levels of carcinogens in human volunteers to measure the total aflatoxin exposure and to determine the effect of dietary chlorophylls on reducing this exposure. Results of the study were published recently in the journal Cancer Prevention Research.