The government will continue to facilitate the development of the palm oil industry by making available grants for specific projects from this year to 2020, says Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Zahid said the grants would include a RM250 million allocation to encourage investments in oleochemicals and food and health value-added products as well as RM4.5 million to small holders and plantation companies to acquire in-field equipment or machineries.
“The industry is one of the major contributors to Malaysia’s economic growth, including generating employment opportunities in the agriculture sector. Currently, it provides direct employment to more than one million people, including 600,000 small holders.
“These factors make palm oil one of Malaysia’s major development drivers and an important pillar in the nation’s economy.
“The government recognises the importance of the palm oil sector and has taken measures to enhance its performance from the upstream to the downstream sub-sections towards generating economic growth and higher income for the country,” he said in his keynote speech, read by Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, at the opening of the Palm and Lauric Oils Price Outlook Conference and Exhibition 2016 (POC 2016), here, yesterday.
Zahid said Malaysia produced 19.96 million tonnes of crude palm oil last year from a planted area of 5.64 million hectares, exported 26.2 million tonnes of palm oil products and generated export earnings of RM63.2 billion.
The palm oil sector also contributed 8.1 per cent of the country’s total merchandise exports.
“The government, through the Malaysian Palm Oil board, is collaborating with renowned scientists around the world to expand the use of palm oil nutrition in various food products and capitalise on the oil nutritional benefits.
“For this purpose, RM30 million will be allocated for the period between this year and 2020,” he said. Zahid said the government would continue to ensure the long-term resilience of the palm oil industry domestically and internationally.
“These measures include implementation of the B7 programme, which involves an annual consumption of 575,000 tonnes of palm oil.
“Besides diversifying andincreasing the use of palm oil, this programme contributes towards reducing dependence on petroleum diesel and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
“In addition, plans to upgrade the B7 to B10 programme are also in the pipeline,” said Zahid. POC 2016, which attracted close to 2,000 delegates from more than 55 counties, was themed “Managing Market Uncertainties: Our Global Solution”.
Meanwhile, Uggah said Malaysia will continue to object to France’s plan on imposing up to €900 (RM4,125) per tonne progressive tax on palm-based products that will enter the country. He said France’s unreasonable tax which would be implemented from next year would result in the dwindling of the palm oil industry.