The farm also sells up to 400kg of vegetables per day to neighboring merchants, according to her, making it no little operation.

She claims that despite Singapore’s tiny size, there are many parking lots here. Having farms [here] to provide for the needs of the community’s citizens is essentially the dream.

These rooftop farms have now appeared all across the South East Asian city-state, numbering at least a dozen.

In 2020, the government began leasing the odd plots as part of its goal to boost domestic food production. Currently, the 5.5 million-person nation imports more than 90% of its food.

But because there is little room in this highly populated island nation, the land is expensive. The most expensive real estate in the world is found in Singapore.

One farmer told the BBC that he had to give up his initial parking lot plot due to the high price and relocate to a less expensive area.

The operations were in full swing when BBC News visited Goh’s farm, which is approximately the size of a football pitch.

Choy sum, a leafy green vegetable used in Chinese cookery, was being picked, prepared, and packaged by workers.

Another worker was repotting seedlings at the opposite end of the building.

Goh states that every day we are harvesting. The amount each day might vary depending on the vegetables we are cultivating, from 100kg to 200kg to 400kg.

She estimates that launching the farm cost about USD 1 million, with a large portion of the funds going toward equipment to facilitate faster harvesting.

Despite certain subsidies, Goh claims her company is still not viable.

She has 10 staff and pays rent for the location as well as another car park plot, which is still being developed, for about USD 90,000.

Since we were establishing up during the COVID pandemic, Goh continues, logistics were far more difficult and expensive.

The process was also brand-new to everyone because this was the government’s first rooftop parking tender, she continues.

Singapore’s rooftop farmers are also developing alternative sources of income.

The post Singapore’s new farms — multi-story car parks appeared first on International Finance.

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine several sunflower oil shipments had got disrupted and on top of that Indonesia’s prohibition on palm oil exports had further constrained global supplies. Malaysia, the world’s second-largest palm oil producer, is trying to increase its share of the edible oil market.

In order to assure the local supply of cooking oil, top producer Indonesia said it would withdraw the embargo on May 23 and instead apply a domestic market sales requirement.

In a conversation with Reuters, Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin stated that she has requested the Finance Ministry, which has set up a committee to look into the details, that tax be reduced to 4%-6% from the current 8%.

She stated that they are anticipating that the Malaysian exporters would be clear winners in the short term because the worldwide purchasers will source for Malaysian palm oil.

She further added that the ministry will continue to loosely monitor the situation of Indonesia’s policy changes.

Lastly, she added that because of an impending increase in production, crude palm oil prices are expected to reduce, but prices will remain high until mid-2023 due to restricted global supply and Chinese demand.

On the other hand, a key palm oil exporter, China has assured that it will soon be increasing its demand for palm oil later in 2022 as it will gradually open its economy once the pandemic gets subdued.

The post Malaysia to review proposed cut in palm oil export tax, says minister appeared first on International Finance.

President Joko Widodo explained the ban announced on April 22 as a short-term measure after domestic prices of palm oil-based cooking oil rose by more than 50%.

Indonesia’s trading partners have not yet formally protested the ban, but there are signs of dissatisfaction in countries like India and Pakistan. Its major importers include China, India, and Pakistan.

James Guild, Deputy Fellow of the S. Rajaratnam Graduate School of International Studies (RSIS) in Singapore told Al Jazeera that there are no official complaints yet as Indonesia will soon be hosting G20 in Bali later this year.

Governments around the world will have to accept this in the interest of achieving their domestic goals as Indonesia is the second-largest producer of palm oil in the world and it also holds all the cards.

Recently, it was suggested that almost 300,000 tonnes of suitable for eating palm oil designated for India have been trapped in Indonesia because of the ban.

Whereas, in Pakistan, it is feared that it would soon run out of palm oil by May.

According to the Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI), Indonesia exported 34 million tonnes of palm oil products in 2020, generating more than $15 billion in sales.

The post Indonesia faces global pressure over ban on palm oil export appeared first on International Finance.

June 15, 2016: Atkins announced the launch of a new end-to-end advisory consulting business – Atkins Acuity – that will combine the company’s extensive engineering and master planning capability with new structuring, financing and project preparation expertise. This combination will support international finance institutions, governments, and large corporations through the delivery of engineering-led advisory solutions to target infrastructure development and funding opportunities around the world.

This is the first new business to be launched by Atkins, with an aspirational goal of generating approximately £200 million in revenues in around a four to five year period.

Atkins Acuity will initially focus on the Middle East, South East Asia and Africa markets across the core Atkins’ sectors of transportation, energy and infrastructure. Senior new hires have been made from organisations including McKinsey, KPMG, Arthur D Little, World Economic Forum, Standard Chartered Bank and the former executive director of the Philippines PPP Unit, adding structuring and financing skills to the deep technical engineering knowledge across the Atkins Group.

Uwe Krueger, Atkins’ chief executive officer, said: “Atkins Acuity is a direct response to our client’s needs to deliver more rewarding and higher-value partnerships for infrastructure and energy investments. We believe Governments, corporates and financial institutions alike are frustrated at bottle-necks in programmes and a lack of delivery – the Atkins Acuity end-to-end advisory service is designed to help change that.”

The Atkins Acuity team combine skills such as financial structuring, economic and strategy consultancy, organisational development, operations improvement, programme management, and due diligence, with Atkins’ technical engineering expertise.

Dominic Harvey, chief executive officer of Atkins Acuity, said: “By combining our engineering heritage with this broader offering of skill sets, our aim is to ensure upfront that projects are technically sound, properly structured and bankable in the international market. We’ll support our clients for the long term, building legacy capability to make sure their teams are fully functional and fit for the future.”

The new business will work with a range of clients including governmental institutions, civil authorities, IFIs, private investors, large corporates and funds. It has already secured new mandates in Turkey, Sri Lanka, Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. In Sri Lanka the business is providing consultancy for the development of flood and drought risk mitigation investment plans and in east and southern Africa helping deliver sustainable energy for all through sector reform.

The post Atkins to help clients manage uncertainty in infrastructure delivery appeared first on International Finance.