KUALA LUMPUR (Dow Jones)--Lanworth Inc., a Chicago-based geospatial analysis company, plans to make production and acreage forecasts for oil palm in Malaysia and Indonesia using satellite technology.

Lanworth will use its satellite data analysis techniques to monitor and quantify the expanding acreage of oil palm plantations and palm oil production, a company statement issued earlier this week said.

"We have observed a rapid increase of oil palm plantations in Indonesia over the past several years, most of which will come into production in 2009-10," Nick Kouchoukos, an analyst with Lanworth said in the statement.

Therefore, Lanworth's data will be very important in forecasting changes in output, he said.

Kouchoukos said Lanworth is also able to measure declines in forest area and burning of biomass, to assess the environmental costs of growth in oil palm acreage.

Lanworth is an information technology company that specializes in application of aerial and satellite remote sensing to natural resource management.

Palm oil is the fourth commodity for which the company will monitor production using satellite analysis.

Last year, it had made such estimates for wheat, soybeans and corn.

According to Malaysian government estimates, global palm oil output accounts for around 25% of the total production of oils and fats. However, its share in the global trade in oils and fats is 51.3%. This is because more than 75% of palm oil output is exported by the producing countries.

Around 85% of the world's palm oil is produced in Malaysia and Indonesia.

-By Sameer Mohindru, Dow Jones Newswires; (603) 2692 5254; This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it