By V.P. SUJATA
PUTRAJAYA: Malaysian palm oil demand from several European countries has dropped following anti palm oil campaign by environmental groups.
Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Peter Chin however said it was not a widespread problem in
Europe. France saw a significant drop in exports from 10,557 tonnes to 5,073 tonnes while
Portugal also experienced an approximate 50% drop. However, overall exports to the European Union had increased from 2.27 million tonnes worth RM3.24 bil in 2005 to 2.58 million tonnes totalling RM3.77bil last year. The current price for palm oil is RM2,739 per metric tonne.
Chin was commenting on recent allegations by environmental groups in Europe and the United States that oil palm cultivation in Malaysia and
Indonesia had led to a list of ills, such as deforestation, climate change and a depleted orang utan population. He said European companies that had been using palm oil as fuel had been affected by the campaign and stopped demanding for it, resulting in the reduced exports. “Many consumers are against deforestation and when they hear of palm oil cultivation causing this and deaths of orang utan, they decide they do not want palm oil,” he told reporters here on Tuesday.
Chin, however, was not too perturbed with the campaign as the demand for palm oil from other parts of the world, especially from
China, was very good.
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on Wednesday, June 27th, 2007 at 2:23 pm and is filed under Palm Oil and Environment.
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