KUALA SELANGOR, Jan 13 — Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok today dismissed reports that India has called for a boycott of Malaysian palm oil.
She said it was learned from several discussions that Indian palm oil buyers want Malaysia to increase its export of crude palm oil and reduce the export of refined palm oil.
“What boycott? They just want us (Malaysia) to export more crude palm oil and reduce the export of refined palm oil,” she told reporters after a briefing on the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) Certification Scheme and a dialogue with Selangor oil palm growers, here.
Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) director-general Dr Ahmad Parveez Ghulam Kadir and Malaysian Palm Oil Certification Council (MPOCC) chief executive officer Chew Jit Seng were also present at the event.
Kok was responding to queries on recent media reports of a move by India to boycott Malaysian palm oil.
The minister urged more oil palm smallholders in Selangor to secure the MSPO certification for their crop, saying that only 4.5 per cent of the 45,000 hectares of oil palm smallholdings in Selangor had the certification and the number was very low.
Ahmad Parveez said the MPOB is in the process of issuing warning letters to palm oil mills as well as oil palm plantations that have yet to begin the process of MSPO certification.
“If they continue to disregard the matter, we will begin to impose compound fines from July. And from early next year, the MPOB will not hesitate to suspend or withdraw their licence,” he said.
As of last Friday, 76.3 per cent or 345 palm oil mills in the country had secured the MSPO certification while plantations comprising 3.67 million hectares of the 5.85 million hectares under oil palm had the certification. — Bernama
