PUTRAJAYA: The government will take advantage of the political tensions in Europe and shortage of global edible oils to promote Malaysian palm oil.
This, said Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin, will pave the way for the commodity to regain its market share, especially in the European Union (EU).
She said Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb 24 this year has significantly affected global vegetable oil supplies as the uncertainty over Black Sea exports have resulted in higher
vegetable/edible oil prices.
"The Eastern European tension has led to shortages of sunflower oil and rapeseed oil with both countries accounting for 80 per cent of global exports.
"The MPIC believes that the Black Sea tension will benefit Malaysian palm oil exports as many European countries with high dependency on sunflower oil, have now shifted their demand to palm oil," she said in a statement.
Ukraine's and Russia's sunflower oil exports account for 10 per cent of global vegoil exports.
Market analysts are presently anticipating an increase in palm oil demands from the EU region in the near-term given lower quantity of soybean exports from Brazil, Paraguay, Russia and Ukraine as well as reduced sunflower from Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.
Coupled with the latest move by neighbouring Indonesia who is the world's largest palm oil exporter to widen the scope of its export ban on raw materials for cooking oil to include crude and refined palm oil, global vegetable oil prices are likely to remain high in 1H 2022.
"This is why I believe now is a time for palm oil to regain its confidence from European buyers given the publicity the commodity received in the past.
"In this respect, I have instructed relevant agencies under MPIC, such as the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) and the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) to undertake aggressive efforts and campaigns not just for our commodity to fill global market gaps in the interim.
"These agencies, in collaboration with MPIC, will have to ensure that Malaysian palm oil remain a top choice in global markets in the long run, particularly those where the consumers have been exposed to vicious propaganda in the past," she said.
Under her leadership, Zuraida said MPIC will not want to waste a good crisis and it is time to step up efforts to counter adverse propaganda to undermine palm oil's credibility and showcase the numerous health benefits the golden oil has to offer.
"These are all in line with MPOC's Malaysian Palm Oil Full of Goodness campaign," she added.
