KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 22 — Malaysia is seeking UK’s support to scrap the European Union’s palm oil ban, and is agreeable to sign a free trade deal after Brexit, according to a report.
UK’s The Telegraph yesterday reported that senior Malaysian officials flew to London last week to remind the British government of the close trade ties between the two countries and hinted at sanctions if the ban came into effect.
Branding the move as a form of “crop apartheid”, Plantation Industries and Commodities minister Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong told the UK daily that he was looking to Britain for support due to “close historical ties and good relationships as Commonwealth countries.”
“The UK has always been a supporter of fair and free trade, so I’d like the British government’s support, because I have not heard anything from them on this issue,” Mah told The Telegraph.
“We are confident Britain will assist in this palm oil issue and we will really appreciate if the UK does assist.”
He added: “We would like to have a free trade deal, I’m sure a UK-Malaysia agreement would be very beneficial to both countries.
“It will help the UK to import more products, more palm oil products, and I think it will be good for both countries.”
Palm oil is one of the country’s largest exports, but draft measures approved by the European parliament earlier this year could have its use as a biofuel in EU state members banned.
The report said the request by Malaysia would put UK in the crosshairs of looming trade between Southeast Asia and the EU, as the British government is bound by EU laws during the transition period.
Environmental campaigners have claimed palm oil plantations are a major cause of deforestation.
Mah was reported to have warned that Malaysia would have no choice but to “retaliate” against EU member states should the 2021 ban be imposed.
This could lead to trade sanctions between Malaysia and the UK just a few months before negotiations on a post-Brexit free trade agreement.
“We hope it won’t come to that,” he insisted.
“We hope good sense will prevail. But if there is a situation where palm oil is not allowed in, if we have to stop selling, I think it is fair that we should retaliate.”
Trade Secretary Liam Fox, who campaigned for Brexit, had in a 2017 speech on post-Brexit trade with Malaysia, said both countries shared a “common attitude to trade and investment and a welcoming commercial environment.”
He said both economies were experiencing remarkable growth.
Malaysian investment in the UK has reached record levels, growing by 200 per cent from 2011-2016.
