28/02/2012 (The Borneo Post Online), Kota Kinabalu - Sabah has remained the country’s biggest crude palm oil (CPO) producer, recording an output of 5.84 million tonnes last year.

This figure representead an increase of 9.9 per cent as compared to the total CPO produced by Sabah in 2010.

Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok in revealing this yesterday, said government support and active participation from industry players played a vital role in the continuous development of the palm oil sector in Sabah.

“Apart from that, we hope the Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC) in Lahad Datu will further boost development in this industry, providing more employment and business opportunities for the locals,” he said.

Speaking at the launch of Transfer of Technology Seminar – SME here yesterday, Dompok said the total area planted with palm oil in Malaysia reached five million hectares last year, covering about 73.2 per cent of the country’s total agricultural land.

Sabah was also the state with the biggest area planted with the commodity at 1.43 million hectares, according to him.

Malaysia produced 18.91 CPO in 2011, which was an increase of 11.3 per cent as compared to the previous year.

Coupled with the stronger market price, the increase pushed CPO export revenues to RM83.4 billion last year, which was 34 per cent higher than that in 2010.

Malaysia has identified the palm oil industry as one of the key economic areas and estimated that the sector would generate RM178 billion in GDP in 2020.

Touching on the seminar, Dompok said his ministry would continue its commitment to empower and help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to develop their business in the palm oil sector.

This, he said, would include efforts to create new business opportunities through commercialization of technologies developed through research and development (R&D) activities.

For improving the dissemination of information, including on newly developed technologies, he said MPOB had built a Sawit Information Centre Complex at the Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park (KKIP).

“I am confident the setting up of this complex would greatly benefit the industry and the public with regards to technology transfer and other services in sharing of latest information,” said Dompok.

He added that MPOB had also set up a Malaysia Sawit Training Centre in Lahad Datu that is equipped with the necessary training facilities for Sabah’s palm oil industry.