KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s ministry of plantation industries and commodities Monday forecast exports of palm oil and palm-oil based products to total 70 billion ringgit ($16.35 billion) this year, up 3.6% from a year earlier.
Malaysia is the world’s second-largest producer of palm oil after Indonesia.
Palm oil and palm-based products, which made up 8.5% of Malaysia’s June exports, rose 15.8% on year to 6.2 billion ringgit.
Meanwhile, the European Union’s decision to curb use of palm oil in bio-fuel will “negatively impact” exports to the region, Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities, Mah Siew Keong said at a conference.
The European Parliament’s vote in April to “phase out” the use of palm biodiesel by 2020 is “unfair”, Mah added.
Norway and France moved to ban the use of palm oil based biofuels this year.
Malaysia exported 10.23 billion ringgit worth of palm oil and palm oil to Europe in 2016, accounting for 15% of total exports.
