Govt to focus on selling palm oil to east Asia, Middle East

The Primary Industry and Commodities Ministry will focus on selling Malaysian palm oil to east Asia and the Middle East after receiving high demand for the commodity from several countries of the two region, says Deputy Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wee Jeck Seng.

He said among the countries that had doubled their supply of palm oil from Malaysia included Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan as well as other nations within South-East Asia.

“Saudi Arabia has increased their import from 300,000 tonnes to 500,000 tonnes, while Afghanistan has also doubled their import to about 150,000 tonnes per year,” he said.

However, he added the Malaysian government had expressed disappointment with the decision by Sri Lanka recently to follow the European Union (EU) in stopping the import of palm oil from Malaysia.

“Sri Lanka should get the correct information about our palm oil as their decision was done hastily besides using the same excuses as given by the EU.

“In Malaysia, we have our own set of rules and regulations such as the introduction of the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) Certification Scheme, which emphasises agriculture and good management, while producing quality products,” Wee said after a working visit to Malaysian Palm Oil Board research station here yesterday.

He added that the country had submitted a protest note to the World Trade Organisation and was waiting its decision on the matter.

“Before Sri Lanka made their decision to stop the imports, they imported about 200,000 tonnes of palm oil from Malaysia annually,” he said.

On his visit to the research station, he expressed pride with MPOB’s achievements as the board has the world’s largest germplasm research station and collection with an area of 841ha for research.

Germplasm is living tissue from which new plants can be grown. It can be a seed or part of another plant that can be turned into a whole plant.