Malaysia: Minister promises aggressive fight against foreign pressures on palm oil

The EU plans to phase out palm oil imports by 2030, largely based on sustainability concerns which the palm oil sector has denied. In May 2021 the World Trade Organisation (WTO) accepted Malaysia’s request to establish a panel to present its protests against this move, which Malaysian Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities (MPIC) YB Datuk Hajah Zuraida Kamaruddin revealed will commence in March this year. Datuk Zuraida, who oversees the palm oil sector, also made an impassioned pledge to the palm oil industry earlier this month, at the Malaysian Palm Oil Council’s (MPOC) Reach & Remind Friends of the Industry Seminar and Dialogue 2022, promising to battle against palm oil dissenters and defend the sector during the hearing in Brussels. “The case has been filed, and we are going to provide complete dossiers [and research] regarding all that has been done in Malaysia regarding these accusations and to [refute them],”​ Datuk Zuraida told the floor. “We will show them how ...