FEPO CONTRACT WILL STRENGTHEN DERIVATIVE OFFERINGS, SAYS ZURAIDA

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 23 -- Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin has expressed confidence that the newly-launched East Malaysia Crude Palm Oil Futures (FEPO) contract will strengthen Malaysia’s derivative offerings.

She said it will further cement the country’s position as the global centre for palm oil price discovery.

FEPO, a ringgit denominated crude palm oil (CPO) futures contract, was launched on Oct 4, 2021.

The minister said Malaysia will continue to export palm oil to markets like China, India, Japan, and Central Asia.

“We are working on more aggressive marketing efforts to grow our share,” she said in her opening address at the two-day Future-Proofed Palm Oil Summit 2021 beginning today.

The virtual summit aims to discuss on strategies and practical approaches to dismantle barriers and revitalise preferences of the palm oil industry.

Zuraida said in order for the country to future-proof the palm oil industry, the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities (MPIC) is working closely with stakeholders, including Indonesia in taking important steps towards improving practices and sustainability in the palm oil industry while dismantling all the barriers to compete healthily in the international market.

“The ministry and our various agencies have been putting in concerted and protracted efforts to showcase that Malaysian palm oil industry is a responsible industry and environmental friendly. Not only that, we are adhering to and meeting various strict national and international standards and requirements,” she said.

As at March 2021, over 86.39 per cent of Malaysia’s total planted area for oil palm has been certified sustainable under the Malaysia Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certification scheme with 437 out of 455 oil palm mills in the country are MSPO compliant.

Hence, she said the government is now formulating policies to help smallholders in the country to obtain the MSPO certification too .

In another note, Zuraida is also very keen to adopt circular economy in the palm oil industry to increase the revenue from oil palm biomass.

“I also encourage the palm oil plantations to go into mechanisation and automation to reduce the dependency on labour and increase efficiency, and adopt carbon neutrality practices and energy efficient technologies to lower carbon footprint in oil palm processing,” she added.

-- BERNAMA