PLANTATION Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin has led the ministry’s (MPIC) delegation to chair the 10th Meeting of the Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries (CPOPC) together with coordinating minister of Indonesian economic affairs Airlangga Hartarto in Bali, Indonesia.
The hybrid meeting was also attended by representatives of observer countries including Colombian agricultural affairs vice-minister Juan Gonzalo Botero, Honduran agriculture and livestock minister Laura Suazo and Palm Oil Corporation secretary-general Kepson Pupita, representing Papua New Guinea.
During the meeting, Zuraida expressed her confidence that the demand for palm oil will remain strong in 2022, noting that there is optimism that palm oil producing countries have better controls and narratives to market palm oil globally.
The Ampang MP further emphasised that this is the right time for palm oil producing countries in collaboration with strategic partners to explain and showcase the benefits of palm oil.
“In fact, joint efforts are needed to deliver a strong message, especially to the European Union (EU) and the United States (US),” she added.
According to Zuraida, the EU and the US need to give recognition to the sustainability agenda carried out by member countries as well as to stop all “baseless accusations” against palm oil products and the industry.
“CPOPC will also play a major role in dealing with this matter as well as take proactive steps in promoting the sustainability agenda and highlighting all efforts by Malaysia and Indonesia,” she remarked.
The meeting further took note of the increasingly limited global supply of vegetable oil due to ongoing geopolitical tensions, especially the Ukraine war, which exacerbated the food crisis and resulted in high inflation worldwide.
It also acknowledged the possibility of biodiesel blending as well as the emphasis on the main market drivers for the rest of 2022.
In addition, the meeting highlighted CPOPC’s plans to hold the G20 Sustainable Vegetable Oil Summit in November 2022 – a programme implemented, among others, to formulate a strategy in dealing with the challenges of the global vegetable oil supply chain.
The summit will provide a discussion forum on key issues relevant to global vegetable oil production and trade such as market access, sustainability, labour issues, and smallholders.
The CPOPC’s plans to help Honduras rehabilitate oil palm plantations damaged by the typhoon in 2020 were also discussed, and in this regard Malaysia and Indonesia will work with other stakeholders to donate more than 80,000 oil palm seedlings to the country.
Meanwhile, both Malaysia and Indonesia also agreed to increase their biofuel mandates to B20 for Malaysia and B35 for Indonesia for domestic use respectively.
Malaysia will further host the 11th CPOPC meeting in March 2023.
“The Ministry, through its agencies and councils, will continue to play a role to ensure the country’s palm oil industry continues to be sustainable and strong to ensure the stability of the economic value of the palm oil sector while continuing to look after the welfare of industry players and smallholders,” Zuraida assured. – July 21, 2022
