Kok delivers her speech in launching the Biofuel Business Forum yesterday. — Bernama photo
PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia’s uptake of crude palm oil (CPO) could increase to 1.3 million tonnes per annum by increasing the blending percentage of biodiesel from B10 to B20 as well as rolling-out the B10 mandate for industrial diesel use, said Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok.
She said the move would reduce high stock levels and encourage stable and better CPO prices.
“An increase of RM100 per tonne in the CPO price is expected to generate an additional RM2 billion revenue to the country,” she said at the Biofuel Business Forum here today.
Malaysia implemented the B10 programme for the transport sector on Feb 1 this year. Kok reportedly said the government also planned to increase the biodiesel blend from B10 to B20 by 2020.
When asked on the European Commission’s proposal to limit the use of biofuel at a press conference later, Kok said the matter would be discussed with Indonesia and Colombia at the sixth ministerial meeting of the Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries (CPOPC) in Jakarta, Indonesia on Feb 28.
“We want to understand the content first, then we will see how we respond to it,” she said.
CPOPC executive director Mahendra Siregar, who was also present at the press conference, said the proposed regulation is considered discriminatory as it does not accept the achievement of the current palm oil production other than climate risk.
“The methodology only focuses on deforestation, it discriminates one commodity and is fair for the domestic oil-producing Europe. This is something that we would not accept as a fair methodology and assessment,” he said. — Bernama