PUTRAJAYA: Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok said imposing import taxes on select cooking oils and rubber products is among suggestions from the industry stakeholders for Budget 2019.
She said the ministry had received 119 proposals to date.
The government is expected to table Budget 2019 in Parliament on November 2.
"I've just been briefed that cooking oil supply surpasses demand and it is the same situation for select rubber products. So, there are proposals to impose taxes on imported vegetable cooking oils and some of these rubber products," she said at a press conference here today.
Imported vegetable cooking oils that have flooded the domestic market include olive, canola and sunflower variants.
"A lot of the proposals we received are practical but we will need to go through the due process of inter-ministry engagement before we can announce our decision," Kok added.
The ministry's secretary general Datuk Zurina Pawanteh acknowledged that there were suggestions for subsidies in raising the current biodiesel mandate from B7 to B10.
The B number indicates the percentage of palm oil biodiesel. That means B7 is a blend of 7 per cent biodiesel and 93 per cent regular diesel.
Likewise, raising the mandate to B10 would translate to a blend of 10 per cent biodiesel and 90 per cent regular diesel.
Kok said the ministry was consulting the automotive and logistics sector which uses diesel, oil companies and the Ministry of Finance (MoF) on higher usage of palm biodiesel, a renewable fuel, throughout the country.
"We need to go on educating the benefits of this cleaner and greener fuel. There seems to be a mental block which we need to overcome.
"Indonesia is enforcing the B20 biodiesel blend throughout all sectors from next month while here in Malaysia, we are still on the B7 mandate," she added.
Yesterday, Indonesia’s Deputy Coordinating Minister for Food and Agriculture as well as Economic Affairs Musdhalifah Machmud forecast that global palm oil prices to rise from at an average of RM2,200 per tonne as her country implemented and enforced B20 mandate throughout all sectors.
Indonesia is the world's biggest palm oil producer and exports some 35 million tonnes per year while Malaysia is second, shipping out close to 20 million tonnes.
Collectively, Indonesia and Malaysia command more than 85 per cent of world's palm oil supply.
As Indonesia raises its biodiesel mandate on palm oil usage with Malaysia's cooperation, it would have an impact on global pricing.