Sabah palm oil commodity price will go premium — Tangau

KOTA KINABALU: The Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC) Lahad Datu Port will be the palm oil product distribution centre whilst its palm oil commodity price will go premium in the future, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Madius Tangau.

Tangau, who is also the State Trade and Industry Minister, said the move would be a game changer for Sabah’s palm oil industry.

“We are in the midst of organizing, so in terms of palm oil commodity, finally,we will have palm oil that is priced according to Sabah,” he said during a press conference at Wisma Kewangan here On Friday (1 March).

Tangau said the palm oil price had been based on Pasir Gudang, Port Klang or Butterworth, for example, thus far.

“We are in the midst of organizing this and hopefully in the near future, not only will we have palm oil price from Sabah but also there will no longer be what is said to be a discounted price from Sabah. It’s going to be a premium price after this.

“The most important thing is Sabah, through POIC Lahad Datu port, will become the distribution centre for palm oil products to the market and we are working towards what we call commodity exchange in POIC Lahad Datu.

“I am not ready to give details about this matter because we are still arranging it with the involved parties, but the most interesting thing after this is that palm oil smallholders will be able to sell their products straight to the market; no longer through a middle man,” he added.

Tangau elaborated that this would be done through a mobile application that is developed to access the international commodity exchange market directly.