KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has set up a palm oil war room (POWR) to better coordinate efforts among government agencies to dismantle global barriers to palm oil trade, said Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong.
“We’ve set up the POWR across relevant government agencies to better coordinate Malaysia’s efforts in dismantling global trade barriers against palm oil trade,” he told reporters at an industry gathering here today.
He explained that the war room, headed by the ministry’s secretary general Datuk K. Yogeesvaran, is monitoring and cooperating with Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) and implementing measures put forward by stakeholders in the private sector and smallholder associations.
POWR was set up in the face of mounting barriers to palm oil trade.
India, at the start of the month, raised import tax on crude palm oil to 44 per cent from 30 per cent and lifted the tax on refined palm oil to 54 per cent from 40 per cent.
Two months ago, the EU Parliament voted for the Renewal Energy Directive II to ban usage of palm biodiesel from January 2021.
