MSPO-certified area rises to 1.017m ha
KUALA LUMPUR: The local oil palm industry’s total planted area certified with the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) scheme stood at 1.017 million hectares as at June 30 this year and this is steadily growing, says Primary Industries and Commodities Minister Teresa Kok.
This represents significant growth from 758,923ha in February.
She said this boded well with the government’s target to make MSPO certification mandatory by the end of next year.
“MSPO has been developed taking into account domestic laws and regulations, including sustainability criteria.
“This scheme, which was implemented on a voluntary basis in the beginning of 2015, will be made mandatory by the end of next year,” said Kok at the opening of the Malaysian Palm Oil Trade Fair and Seminar 2018, here, yesterday.
On the prospects of palm oil exports this year, she said the government had not set any fullyear target.
Kok also said it was too early to elaborate the discussion on palm oil exports with China during her visit to the country last week.
She was earlier quoted as saying that export prospects for Malaysian palm oil in the second half woud be positive as the ministry had set its eyes on wooing more buyers from China, the world’s second largest economy and Malaysia’s top three palm oil consumer.
Kok’s mission was to persuade China to increase its offtake of Malaysian palm oil for manufacture of food products and attract its investors to establish palm oilrelated businesses.
Last year, China bought 1.92 million tonnes of palm oil from Malaysia, India imported 2.03 million tonnes and the European Union bought 1.99 million tonnes.
Cumulatively, these three buyers accounted for almost 36 per cent of Malaysia’s total palm oil exports last year at 16.56 million tonnes worth RM50 billion.
As the world’s second largest producer after Indonesia, Malaysia’s palm oil exports amounted to 23.97 million tonnes worth RM74.74 billion last year, compared with 23.29 tonnes valued at RM64.59 billion in 2016, according to the Malaysian Palm Oil Board.