18.11.2019 (The Edge Markets MY) - KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 18): Three palm oil producing countries, namely Nigeria, Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Honduras, are expected to join the Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries (CPOPC) in the near future.

Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said PNG and Nigeria have expressed their interest to become members during the Second Ministerial Meeting of Palm Oil Producing Countries here today.

"Honduras has already signed the communication letter with CPOPC to become a member. So, I think these three countries will soon start the procedures of becoming members (of CPOPC)," he told reporters after the meeting.

The meeting was co-chaired by Malaysia and Indonesia, with Malaysia being represented by Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok Suh Sim.

Earlier in her opening remarks, Kok emphasised the need for strengthened collaboration among palm oil producers to address emerging issues in the palm oil industry and expressed her concerns about discriminatory policies and regulations in some countries that unfairly targeted the industry.

She urged palm oil producing countries to work hand in hand and stand united to defend the palm oil industry without compromising sustainability goals.

She also stressed on the importance of CPOPC playing an intermediary role for palm oil producing countries to work with other international bodies and associations for the benefit of the palm oil industry.

The second ministerial meeting has come out with several recommendations for follow-up action for the palm oil industry, including continuously fighting the restrictive measures against palm oil through the World Trade Organisation.

 The meeting also encouraged palm oil producing countries to increase collaborations in developing strategies to get palm oil prices to a remunerative level, particularly for smallholders.

It has also called for unity and solidarity among palm oil producing countries in fighting the discriminative measures against palm oil through aggressive joint counter-campaign with concrete and implementable actions.

The meeting called for continuous efforts to promote and expand biofuel consumption to absorb more crude palm oil in the global market including through Indonesia’s trial implementation of a B30 biodiesel programme in December and Malaysia’s implementation of a B20 programme in stages from next year. — Bernama