The Star Online (17/10/2017) - PETALING JAYA: Malaysia aims to further increase its agricommodity trade with the United States moving forward, according to Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong.

He said this during a courtesy call from US ambassador to Malaysia Kamala Lakhdhir together with delegates from the US embassy in Malaysia.

“Malaysia and the US share a strong bond in the agricommodity trade, with a total commodity trade up to RM14.11bil in 2016.

“Malaysia’s export of agricommodities and commodity-based products in 2016 increased by 0.9% compared to 2015.

“Malaysia is looking forward to further increasing agricommodity trade between the two countries,” stated Mah in a press release.

For the period of January to July 2017, export value of agricommodities was RM8.75bil, a 14.8% growth compared to RM7.6bil in the same period last year.

The exports are largely rubber products valued at RM3.8bil, followed by palm oil and palm-based products at RM2.5bil and timber and timber products valued at RM2.1bil.

Lakhdhir’s courtesy call to Mah represents the first meeting between the officials from the Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry and their US embassy counterparts, since Mah assumed office in the mid-2016.

Mah hailed the meeting as a great milestone in forging a closer relationship between the two countries towards a better understanding of the complexity and scale of palm oil, rubber and timber related issues.

During the meeting, issues pertaining to the welfare of workers in the palm oil industry such as employment of forced labours and underage labours were raised.

“Protecting the welfare of workers is one of the requirements under the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) Certification Scheme, which has been implemented since 2015 and will be made mandatory nationwide by the end of 2019.

“The Malaysian palm oil industries recognised and have taken efforts to ensure that the welfare of workers is taken care of,” said Mah.