08/06/2010 (Bernama) - Malaysia is inviting investors from China to explore downstream investments in Lahad Datu Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC Lahad Datu) in Sabah, says Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok.

He urged them to explore the potential investment opportunities in downstream activities for palm oil, rubber and timber sectors in Malaysia.

"The Chinese investors when they go abroad to set up factory or refinery, want a secured market for domestic supply.

"For oil palm business, we have a huge supply of raw materials in POIC," Dompok told Bernama in an interview recently.

Dompok was on a six-day working visit to Beijing and Shanghai from June 1-6.

The minister visited China's Ministry of Commerce, State Administration of Grains, China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Corp and Ningbo GoodTime Science and Technology Co Ltd.

The visit was to promote palm oil, rubber and timber as well as to boost bilateral trade and investment ties.

He said POIC Lahad Datu offered opportunities for investment in downstream industries such as food, phytonutrient, oleochemical, biomass and biofuel, adding that it was a gateway to palm oil investment opportunities.

Located in south-eastern Sabah, the POIC Lahad Datu is the first dedicated industrial cluster of its kind in Malaysia.

It is a model project that will entrench Malaysia's global status in the palm oil industry.

POIC Lahad Datu is strategically located in the oil palm belt of Sabah.

Its proximity to major palm oil plantations in Indonesia's Kalimantan and lauric oil production areas in the southern Philippines makes it potentially the international focal point for vegetable oil-based industries.

Malaysia and Indonesia combine to produce some 80 per cent of the global palm oil output.