Malaysia not affected by Belgium's palm oil ban

KUALA PILAH: Malaysia is not affected by Belgium's decision to ban the use of palm oil as a biofuel in the country starting next year, said Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities (MPIC), Datuk Dr Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali.

He said this is because the country's palm oil market is still quite large and that there are many other countries importing Malaysian palm oil; noting that the government is also actively marketing the products in markets such as Africa and the Middle East.

“Recently, Afghanistan has also asked us to increase oil palm exports to the country, from the current 75,000 tonnes to up to 150,000 tonnes, so we are confident that our oil palm market is still quite large and will not be affected (by the ban).

"At the regional level, the increase is even more significant -- we must remember that the Malaysian palm oil is of premium quality and different from other countries' palm oil," he told reporters after presenting donations to smallholders here yesterday.

Mohd Khairuddin said last year, the total export value of oil palm to Belgium amounted to RM207 million, while the total export value to the country as of February stood at RM36 million.