Financial instruments comprise financial assets, financial liabilities and also derivative financial instruments. The fair value of a financial instrument is the amount at which the instrument could be exchanged or settled between knowledgeable and willing parties in an arm's length transaction, other than in a forced or liquidation sale. The information presented in the financial statements represents best estimates of fair values of financial instruments at the balance sheet date.

The on-balance sheet financial assets and financial liabilities of the Group and the Company whose fair values are required to be disclosed in accordance with the Singapore Statements of Accounting Standard comprise all its assets and liabilities with the exception of inventories, investments in subsidiaries, investments in associated companies, investment in joint ventures, property, plant and equipment, deferred charges, intangible assets, goodwill, provision for current and deferred taxation, deposits and prepaid expenses, certain provisions, advanced freight billings and deferred income. The estimated fair values of those on-balance sheet financial assets and financial liabilities approximate their carrying amounts as shown in the balance sheets except for certain borrowings as disclosed in Note 32.

The fair values of off-balance sheet derivative financial instruments are shown in Notes 32 and 42.

The fair values of guarantees (Note 39), unquoted equity shares (Note 22) and other unquoted investments (Note 22) are not readily ascertainable. There is no active market, published price quotations or other sources available to determine reliable fair values for these instruments. Therefore, no disclosure of their estimated fair values is made because of significant variability in the range of reasonable fair value estimates of these instruments to the extent that the usefulness of disclosing a reasonable range or a single estimate of fair value is negated.

Where available, quoted and observable market prices are used as the measure of fair values, such as for quoted investments.

Where quoted and observable market prices are not available, fair values are estimated based on a range of methodologies and assumptions, the principal ones being as follows :

As assumptions were made regarding risk characteristics of the various financial instruments, discount rates and other factors, changes in uncertainties and assumptions could materially affect these estimates and the resulting fair value estimates.

In addition, the fair value information for non-financial assets and liabilities is excluded as they do not fall within the scope of SAS 32, which requires fair values information to be disclosed. These include property, plant and equipment, long term relationships with customers and other intangibles which are integral to the full assessment of the Group's and the Company's values.