‘We won’t go to WTO yet’
KUALA LUMPUR: Some of the European Union countries have accepted Malaysia’s palm oil and even expressed their desire to buy the commodity, said Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
For this reason, the government will not seek the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) intervention yet over the European Union’s palm oil trade barriers, he added.
“Until we find very positive discrimination, we will not act,” he said in a press conference after launching the MPOB International Palm Oil Congress and Exhibition (Pipoc 2019) yesterday.
Asked if the actions by the EU thus far were not discriminatory, he said: “We have made a lot of announcements and they seem to be convinced with what we are saying.”
On Nov 14, Reuters, quoting a parliamentary document, reported that France’s National Assembly adopted an amendment delaying until 2026 the end of palm oil’s tax advantages to give a sufficient transition period for French companies to prepare for the end of palm oil in biofuels.
In his speech, Dr Mahathir said Malaysia and other palm oil producing countries were stepping up efforts among global stakeholders to disseminate accurate information about sustainable oil palm plantations and to counter false allegations.
At the international front, the negative publicity campaigns against palm oil were mainly due to an intertwined political and economic agenda, with attacks from anti-palm oil campaigners and Western NGOs.
The attackers always linked the palm oil industry to deforestation and loss of biodiversity.
“Despite our best efforts, if certain importing countries choose to impose discriminatory trade barriers against palm oil-producing countries, we must not keep silent nor hesitate to take countermeasures.
“If there is any evidence that such discriminatory trade practices are in violation of any international laws, Malaysia and other producing countries under the Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries must seek intervention from the WTO,” said Dr Mahathir.
He added that oil palm occupied only 5% of the total land use by oil crops but its oils contributed about 32% of the world’s oils and fats production.
He argued that oil palm plantations were not a major cause of deforestation as they accounted for only 0.4% of the total global agriculture area.
In Malaysia, oil palm is mainly planted in designated agricultural land and the opening of new plantations had plateaued in recent years and will remain as such, said Dr Mahathir.
He added that it was more efficient to produce palm oil compared with other oils and seeds as it requires the least land area but with the highest yield.
Palm oil’s average yield of four tonnes per hectare per year is four times higher than rapeseed oil, 5.4 times higher than sunflower and eight times higher than soya bean.
“Therefore, a ban on palm oil would not stop deforestation, but instead will lead to more opening of land-intensive oilseed crops to keep up with the rising demand,” he argued.In 2018, palm oil and palm-based products contributed RM67.5bil to the country’s export earnings and provided employment opportunities to more than three million people along its supply chain, including more than half a million shareholders, he said, adding that oil palm is the largest traded vegetable oil in the world.
Last year, 72 million tonnes of palm oil were produced globally as compared with 56 million tonnes of soya bean oil and 25 million tonnes of rapeseed oil.
At the press conference, Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok said a Cabinet paper on whether to bring the trade barrier case to the WTO is now in circulation among some ministries and will be presented to the Cabinet for a decision.
Source: TheStar