15/12/2012 (The Star) - The price of commodities, especially palm oil, is expected to stabilise when a programme aimed at addressing the decline is introduced next month.

“The oil palm industry is facing several challenges, including oversupply and reduced demand from China and Europe.

“Thus, the ministry has set up the B10 programme to mitigate the problem and hopefully by next year we will see the price of palm oil stabilise and increase,” said Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok.

Under the B10 programme, 10% of bio-diesel will be blended with petroleum diesel, up from 5% previously in non-subsidised sectors.

At least one million tonnes of crude palm oil a year are estimated to be utilised through B10.

The state government, said Dompok, had also allowed palm oil to be used for power generation purposes especially in Sabah.

He said this at the launch of the ministry’s career carnival in conjunction with the one-day Hello Commodity programme in Pen­ampang yesterday.

Dompok said they expected to achieve a revenue of RM286.6bil for the plantation sector through the B10 programme by 2020.

Sabah is the second largest producer of palm oil in the country, with a 30% market share.

Meanwhile, Dompok said the carnival would provide information on job opportunities available in the plantation sector.

“The plantation industry is not limited to manual labourers,” he said.

“There are many positions in the management and supervisory departments.”