KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will raise the current B7 mandate to B10 next month, said Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong.
The biodiesel B10 is a blend of 10 per cent palm methyl ester (PME) and 90 per cent regular diesel while B7 is of a lower blend of 7 per cent PME.
Mah, currently on a working visit in Jakarta, Indonesia said in a text reply to Business Times that the biodiesel mandate will be raised to B10 in December 2016.
“When we fix the exact date, we’ll make an announcement,” he added.
Earlier today, the ministry released his written reply to a query posed by Hulu Langat MP Dr Che Rosli Che Mat in Dewan Rakyat.
The statement highlighted that apart from the B7 mandate going up to B10, the industrial sector, which has been only using regular diesel all this while, will start to use the B7 blend.
Mah, in his Parliamentary reply, noted this move would require 800,000 tonnes of palm oil per year to be converted into PME.
This, he said, would help bring down the nation’s palm oil stocks and therefore support palm oil prices in the international market.
Biodiesel producers in Malaysia have been supplying PME to the transport sector, which started in June 2011 with the B5 programme. The blending percentage was then raised to B7 in November 2014.
Industry players have been selling PME to oil companies like Petronas, Shell, BHPetrol, Caltex and Petron to be blended and retailed to consumers across 3,000-odd fuel stations nationwide.
Biodiesel producers in Malaysia include listed plantation counters such as Genting Plantations Bhd, Felda Global Ventures Holding Bhd, Sime Darby Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd and Sarawak Oil Palms Bhd, all who are capable of producing 2.4 million tonnes of palm biodiesel per year.
Over the last five years, the government, via the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities and its agency Malaysian Palm Oil Board, have been taking a slow-and-steady approach in rolling out the B5 and then B7 blends.
The government has been and continues to be in regular consultation with the Malaysia Automotive Institute, Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Malaysian Automotive Association and Japanese Automotive Manufacturers Association (JAMA) on engine warranty issue.