KUALA LUMPUR: The government is currently in talks with several parties on the usage of the National Oil Palm Trunk (OPT) as an alternative raw material supply for the furniture industry.
Speaking after opening the Export Furniture Exhibition (EFE) today, Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong several parties had expressed interest in the OPT research with Malaysia.
"There is a big potential in the OPT and we have just concluded a meeting which came up with a two-year plan on how to best fully utilised its potential.
"It has its own special ingredients in it and so far about six companies have already started using OPT and the market is expected to expand in the next few years,” Mah told reporters on the sidelines of the exhibition.
Mah added that several countries such as Japan and Germany were collaborating with Malaysia.
The countries had carried out their own studies on the potential of OPT and its market.
Mah also said the government had established the Import Assistance Programme (IAP) which aims to facilitate the industry players to import raw materials.
"In 2017, about RM2 million or 42 per cent of the total IAP allocatiom of RM4.6 million was disbursed for the benefit of the furniture industry."
This year, MTC has increased its IAP allocation to RM7 million and industry players are urged to make full use of this financial incentive pro ided by the Malaysian Timber Council, he said.
The National Timber Industry Policy had earlier envisaged to achieve RM12 billion in export earnings by 2020.