Kuala Lumpur, (New Straits Times )11/30/2001 - NINETEEN countries in WestAsia are important markets for Malaysian palm oil, Deputy PrimaryIndustries Minister Datuk Anifah Aman said.He said among the countries are Algeria, Egypt, Kuwait, Iran, Iraq,Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Oman and Tunisia.He said between 1996 and 2000, 5.33 million tonnes of palm oil had beenexported to these destinations compared with 4.63 million tonnes to Europeand 0.65 million tonnes to the United States.Epypt is the highest importer among the West Asian countries with 400,000tonnes a year followed by Turkey (160,000 tonnes) and Saudi Arabia(140,000 tonnes).Answering a question by Jamilah Ibrahim, he said palm oil prices had risenfrom RM700 to RM800 per tonne early this year to about RM1,000 per tonnenow.