“Love MY Palm Oil campaign impractical – Better to persuade China to purchase more palm oil

The “Love MY Palm Oil” campaign is none other than political propaganda and will not be able to improve sales of local palm oil or palm oil-based products, dispose of stock pileups or increase prices of the said commodity.   

The said campaign was launched by the Ministry of Primary Industries with the objective of “instilling national pride and greater appreciation for Malaysian palm oil,” and to encourage the masses to use oil palm products in their daily lives. Nevertheless, our domestic market composes only a fraction of the world’s markets, and will not bring a significant impact to palm oil prices.

Moreover, as Malaysia is the second largest producer of palm oil and palm oil-based products, and our nation possesses oil palm plantations with an area as vast as 5.85 million hectares, we are thus heavily dependent on foreign demand to absorb the excess stocks and to stabilise commodity prices.

Therefore, the “Love MY Palm Oil” campaign is clearly impractical, unless it is aimed at encouraging our citizens to substitute bathing and drinking water with palm oil. The ban by the European Union (EU) against palm oil must be overcome appropriately, and the Minister of Primary Industries ought to search for new international buyers, or meet up with EU leaders to clarify the true facts regarding palm oil.

Malaysia-China bilateral ties have been on a downward trend due to the cancellation of projects under the “Belt and Road” initiative since the change of government. This has led to the government of China reducing the total volume of palm oil imports from Malaysia, thereby causing a glut in stocks and affecting commodity prices.

Fluctuations in palm oil prices are heavily reliant on the Chinese market. The more China does not increase the total imports of palm oil from Malaysia, this commodity’s prices will remain low. Hence, the new PH government is urged to cease its focus on the EU, and instead, switch its attention to China.

It is incumbent that Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad improves bilateral relations between Malaysia and China, and to meet up with their Ministers as early as this April, to safeguard the welfare and interests of oil palm small holders, and to revive China’s demands for palm oil.

We also call upon Putrajaya to once again participate in the “Belt and Road” initiative besides persuading China to reinstate its demands for palm oil and palm oil-based products from Malaysia.

Quek Tai Seong

MCA Pahang State Liaison Committee Secretary

-MCA online-