Palm oil prices might be going through the roof and making investors and businessmen rich, but the soaring prices have not improved the lot of pickers and locals working on the fringes of the industry. The island of Sumatra is one of the main palm oil-growing islands in Indonesia, which is the world's second-largest producer after Malaysia. There, 52-year-old Minah salvages unspoilt fruit from partly rotten palm branches that have fallen to the ground.

At least five Chinese companies are exploring the possibility of setting up joint venture factories to produce technical equipment for both local and international markets, says an executive from the Chinese trade commission.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Chief Economic Minister Boediono said that the government would form a special team to supervise the implementation of the Indonesia-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement. "We will set up a special team which will monitor the implementation phase by phase of the EPA, including emerging opportunities," the minister said during a Japan-Indonesia Business Forum on Monday. He said that Indonesia actually already had a national team for Exports and Investment Promotions (PEPI).

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia's fourth largest mobile telephone operator PT Mobile-8 Telecom said Tuesday its unit Mobile-8 Finance BV has sold bonds worth 100 million US dollars. Mobile-8 president Hidadjat Tjandradadja told Thomson Financial that Mobile-8 will guarantee the bonds and will use the proceeds to finance its 2008 capex and refinance old debt. The bonds will mature on March 1, 2013 and will carry a fixed interest rate of 11.25 percent per annum.