PUTRAJAYA, Jan 13 — The Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities (MPIC), agencies, and industry players will come together to come up with a five-year plan to promote Malaysian palm oil.

MPIC Minister Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin said the comprehensive plan involves a total package comprising marketing, promotion, engagement, and communication on the goodness of palm oil.

She said the plan will be formalised on paper, but at this point in time, things have “still not firmed up” yet. Zuraida was delivering her keynote address at the Palm Oil Economic Review and Outlook Seminar 2022 here today.

“We have to look for a more unconventional way of promoting our palm oil. I urge the agencies, industry players to work together with the ministry and look at our total marketing strategies, internally and externally, locally and internationally,” she said.

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She said the challenges faced by Malaysia are US and EU pressure. What Malaysia lacks is an aggressive marketing package to transform the perception of Malaysian palm oil. This, she said is, “missing”.

“There are not enough strategies to counter the anti-palm oil campaign attacks because Malaysia does not capitalise on all the goodness of palm oil,” she said at a media conference.

Locally, there is a need to strengthen the position of the commodity and view it as a golden commodity.

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She said there is a need to re-emphasise to the public the importance of protecting the country’s number one commodity. This has to be done with campaigns and communication strategies.

Zuraida said if the country is ahead with more aggressive strategies, Malaysia will not need to spend so much money on fairs.

On various EU allegations regarding Malaysian palm oil, she said these are “not justified because they are one-sided views by individuals or non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

“There is no verification process. We have labour and environmental policies but (these) are not being highlighted enough,” she said.

She said complaints can be made, but there needs to be a process of verification as to whether these complaints are justified or not. There is also not enough knowledge with regard to the commodity in the EU.

“We will try to address this in March during our visit to the EU,” she said. — Bernama