KUALA LUMPUR: Domestic palm oil industry has staged a remarkable performance for 2021, especially the price of crude palm oil (CPO), with the average price surging by 64.1 per cent to RM4,407.00 per tonne, its highest in the history of palm oil, from RM2,685.50 per tonne in 2020.
Plantation Industries minister Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin said the higher price was due to tight supplies availability due to labour shortage due to the pandemic.
Similarly, the monthly and daily average CPO prices peaked at RM5,341.00 per tonne in November 2021 and RM5,429.00 per tonne on November 19, 2021, respectively.
Due to higher export prices, overall export revenue of palm oil and other palm-based products increased by RM29.28 billion or 40.1 per cent to RM102.34 billion in 2020, compared to RM73.06 billion in 2020.
Similarly, palm oil export earnings rose by RM19.67 billion or 40.2 per cent to RM68.65 billion from RM48.98 billion in 2020.
"The palm oil industry continues to drive the country's economic growth, and the world demand for palm oil in food industries and commercial sectors are set to increase and accelerate further in 2022," she said in her speech at the Palm Oil Economic Review and Outlook Seminar (R&O) 2022, organised by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) today.
Zuraida said world consumption of vegetable oils has doubled in the past two decades to 242 million tonnes in 2021 from 118 million tonnes in 2001.
She remains optimistic about the post-Covid-19 outlook of the oil palm industry in Malaysia as supply and demand continue to be stable and the expected recovery from labour shortages situation.
Zuraida also sees strong demand for palm oil from major importing markets, including rising demand in the HORECA (hotels, restaurants and café) sector and restocking activities which has started from the recovery of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"For 2022, we anticipate a better performance supported by the improvement in production.
"Exports are expected to sustain with better prospects of global oils and fats, and favourable trade policies in competing and importing countries," she said.
Meanwhile, the oil extraction rate (OER) improved to 20.01 per cent in 2021 from 19.92 per cent in the previous year.
On the progress of the Malaysia Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certification, Zuraida said a total of 5.42 million hectares, or 92.39 per cent out of the 5.87 million hectares of oil palm planted areas, have been MSPO-certified by the end of 2021.
She said the MSPO standard had been revised to reduce ambiguity and increase credibility to get recognition from the international market.
"The revised standards include improvement on good social and labour practices, high conservation value (HCV) and social impact assessment (SIA) and quantification of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission.
"I hope that with the revision of the MSPO standard, the sustainable palm oil production across the board will gain consumer confidence and facilitate Malaysian palm oil trade in the international market and subsequently elevate its market competitiveness in the long run," she said.
Zuraida also said that her ministry and its agencies had been actively mobilising efforts to address the anti-palm oil campaign both domestically and abroad which include meetings and discussions with lawmakers in Europe and United States to safeguard the interests of the Malaysian palm oil industry.
"MPOB has also managed to gain support from countries such as China and India through the Codex Alimentarius Committee Meeting," she added.
Themed' The Oil Palm Industry: Navigating Challenges Embracing Opportunities in a Post-COVID Landscape', the R&O seminar focused on the way forward for the palm oil industry approaches taken by the government and trade development and its impact on the commodity.