Thursday, September 19, 2002 (The Star) - THE Malaysian Palm Oil PromotionCouncil (MPOPC) will lead a delegation of local palm oil researchers andtechnologists to South Korea and Japan in early November to promote andexpand the market for palm kernel cake (PKC) there.MPOPC chief executive officer Datuk Haron Siraj said the 10- to 15-memberPKC promotion mission was aimed at imparting various technical aspects ofPKC as animal feed.Speaking after a half-day MPOPC seminar on Industry Briefing on PalmKernel Cake in Petaling Jaya on Tuesday, Haron said the mission wouldinclude briefing sessions, and interaction with importers and feedcompounders of animal feed in South Korea, and swine, cattle and poultryproducers.PKC is a by-product of the extraction of palm kernel oil. It is a safe,high-energy animal feed containing crude protein and fibre.“Our aim is to expand the market of PKC in East Asia, not only for cattlefeed but also for other livestock like poultry,’’ Haron said, adding thatthe delegation would also make presentations to some of the animal feedmillers there.He said the effort was expected to eventually raise the economies of scalefor shipping PKC to the East Asia market.Malaysia produced about 1.78 million tonnes of PKC last year and exported1.76 million tonnes, mainly to Europe.Of the 1.76 million tonnes, South Korea accounted for 207,220 tonnes andJapan 11,744.“Although small compared with exports to the European Union, we see greatpotential in the East Asia market, especially in South Korea and Japan,’’Haron said.He said that the MPOPC would explore other East Asia markets, includingVietnam and China next year.Haron also said the MPOPC planned to sell other oil palm products that hadbeen developed by its researchers to the animal feed industry.“Besides PKC and palletised palm fronds, there are also some palm oilfractions that can be used as animal feed,’’ he said.In this aspect, the MPOPC was working closely with the Malaysian Palm OilBoard, , Malaysian Agriculture Institute and Universiti Putra Malaysia,especially on efforts to improve the quality, and to promote greater usageof PKC, Haron added.