Palm oil trade shift as Malaysia likely to emerge as big winner with UK’s CPTPP membership approval

The United Kingdom successfully obtained membership to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade agreement in July 2023 after two years of negotiations and receiving ratification from all existing member countries. This is expected to enter into force in the second half of this year, and will make the UK the twelfth CPTPP member – a major trade milestone for the country given its withdrawal from the European Union in 2020. However, there were concerns that the deal could lead to an increase of palm oil imports from deforested land. But new documentation from the UK Trade and Agriculture Commission (TAC) advising the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on CPTPP accession says this has been addressed, and suggests Malaysia could be a big winner. “The risk that CPTPP would lead to an increase in imports of palm oil from deforested land has been determined to be low for a variety of reasons,”​ TAC highlighted in its report. “The vast ...