Breaking News-INTERVIEW-UPDATE 1-Malaysia's Sime to spend 3-5 bln rgt on palm

KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 (Reuters) - Malaysia's top planter Sime Darby will spend 3-5 billion ringgit ($918.3 million-1.53 billion) on its oil palm estates this year as global demand for the vegetable oil grows, a senior official said on Wednesday.
Sime owns 530,000 hectares of estates planted with oil palms in Malaysia and Indonesia and has another 300,000-400,000 hectares of concessions from Liberia and Malaysia's Sarawak state that are yet to be developed.