Singapore

An increasing number of Indian companies are expected to use Singapore as a springboard for their global operations, including overseas farmland investments

Better food and know-how for China, more food for Singapore: if the deal actually comes to pass, it strikes me as a fairly solid bargain, writes Te-Ping Chen.

Singapore plans to help develop a $16 billion agricultural project in northeastern China as the city-state aims to boost its food security.

Singapore could gain access to a major new source of meat, fruit and vegetables if a massive new farming project in north-eastern China takes off

Government of Singapore has set up a fund to support feasibility studies on investments in overseas food zones, overseas contract farming and other non-traditional sources of food security for the city-state.

Foreign investors from China, Korea and Singapore have expressed their readiness to invest in the projects to cultivate including paddy to supply for domestic demand.

Indonesian global palm oil giant, Golden Agri-Veroleum will invest more than US$1.6 billion dollars on more than 240,000 hectares of oil palm to boost the country’s oil palm sector.

In the area of food diversification, AVA will co-fund feasibility studies on investments in overseas food zones, overseas contract farming and sourcing of rice, chicken, pork, fish, eggs and leafy vegetables from non-traditional sources or existing sources that are not major exporters to Singapore

The planned expansion of plantations in the Papuan provinces of Indonesia should be immediately suspended and reviewed amid concerns over massive deforestation and widespread exploitation of local communities, environmentalists warned today.

Vita Grain Group, which is backed by US $60 million of funding, owns more than 20 different strains of hybrid rice seeds. Vita Grain is looking for funding to expand its seed production beyond Africa to Asia, the US and South America. The company is also setting up a rice mill in Mauritius and is in talks with partners in Botswana, Madagascar and Mozambique to develop rice production units.

China's sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corp, has bought a 14.5 per cent stake in grain trading and production firm Noble Group for US$850 million.

The Australian almond plantations of agribusiness group Timbercorp have been sold to Singapore-based multinational food giant Olam International for $128 million.