Good move to replicate Opec for palm oil industry — MPOB

0

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Palm Oil Board is in favour of any move by Indonesia and Malaysia as the world’s largest producers of palm oil, to form a body similar to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec).

The move would enhance transparency and maintain crude palm oil (CPO) price at the same time, it said.

MPOB director-general Dr Ahmad Parveez Ghulam Kadir said the world is currently depending on Malaysia for updates on the CPO price.

In this regard, the board would make the announcement on the CPO price, stocks, production and export markets every tenth of the month.

“If Indonesia can also announce their stocks level and such, we can have a more controlled price,” he told Bernama on the sidelines of the three-day MPOB International Palm Oil Congress and Exhibition (Pipoc) 2019 here yesterday.

Both Indonesia and Malaysia contribute 87 per cent of the global supply and creating a duopoly market of the most versatile edible oil.

Ahmad Parveez noted that under the Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries (CPOPC) currently, both member countries Indonesia and Malaysia were only looking at issues pertaining to how they could work together, particularly in countering the European Union discrimination against palm oil.

“So far in terms of trade and marketing each country does so on their own,” he added.

Former Malaysian ambassador Dr Azhari Karim wrote to NST yesterday, calling the government to consider following the footsteps of the Opec by establishing a similar organisation to comprise mainly palm oil producers, millers and consumers.

“The issue of pricing continues to plague the industry, as we depend largely on countries which have large populations such as China and India, the two largest buyers of our palm oil.

“Anything that can lead to a lower demand from these two countries, whether due to internal or other political and economic factors, will certainly affect palm oil prices,” he said, adding that the demand for palm oil would also be dependant on the performance of other vegetable oils in the world. — Bernama