20/04/2011 (Khaleej Times) - Malaysian crude palm oil companies eye the UAE in particular, the GCC countries and the Middle East in general for their better trading partners.

A number of companies from around the world, which deals in Islamic Finance gathered at Amanie-Failaka Symposium 2011 in Abu Dhabi, looking for new partners for Islamic and conventional funds management for low risk and higher returns.

Talking to Khaleej Times on sidelines of the symposium, Azaraie Mohamad Ghazi, director of AbleAce, a Malaysia-based company, who spoke on palm oil, said, “We have started trading in crude palm oil with the GCC region recently, while few companies based in Dubai have signed contracts with us.” The figures for the total palm oil trade with the UAE were not available with Ghazi. “In fact, we are looking for partners here and see how best we can tap the GCC markets. We are here and got our system ready. Our products are approved by the Islamic Muftis of the Middle East,” Ghazi said. Palm oil products in general are hugely cultivated crop in Malaysia and we do marketing for it for many years.  This palm oil is used for edible and toiletry purposes generally, he said.

The challenge for palm oil trees is land and Malaysia has less land, so the Malaysian companies are growing their crops in Indonesia. The Malaysian government has put lots of efforts in developing industry. Now we are global producer of palm oil, Ghazi said. In Malaysia around 17 million tonnes of CPO’s (crude palm oil) a year is produced and in Indonesia we are producing 24 billion tonnes a year, he informed.

Most of the palm oil produced in Malaysia is exported to foreign countries. CPO is generally refined in our country as we have good capacity of refineries than production of palm oil, he said.

Speaking on the ‘Islamic Funds’ at the symposium, Datin Maznah Mahbob, CEO funds management division, AmInvestment Bank Group, Malaysia, said, the demand for Islamic funds worldwide remains fragmented. The industry must be approached from a global perspective. Malaysian demand for Islamic funds is too small for any worthwhile longer-term strategy. Islamic funds are growing at a faster pace globally than conventional funds, albeit from a smaller base, Mahbob said. When we global, Islamic funds will be our core niche, adding that the conventional fund management was a very crowded space within the

global funds management industry, she said.  In terms of Islamic funds, demand currently exceeds supply, but if you are good you will be more visible in the Islamic space. The onus is on

the deliverables. We focus on substance and we want to make our products more competitive, Mahbob said.