MARKET DEVELOPMENT
MPOB to Step up Promotions in China
MPOB to Step up Promotions in China
15/09/2015 (The Star) - The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) is focusing on promoting palm oil application in non-food products and health benefits in China to further support the growth of Malaysia's palm oil industry.
Chairman Datuk Wan Mohammad Khair-il Anuar Wan Ahmad said the focus was crucial to promote the edible oil as the Chinese people were still not aware that palm oil can be used in household products.
"We are looking at not just promoting/exporting the oils but also other palm oil-based products. We now moving mainland towards the west to regions like Chongqing besides our tradition markets of Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing," he told Bernama on the sidelines of the Palm Oil Health and Nutrition Forum in Beijing on Tuesday.
Wan Mohammad said the nutritional values of palm oil, its non-food applications as well as its usage in pharmaceuticals would be the key areas for MPOB in promoting the edible oil.
He said MPOB was looking at not just exporting the edible oil but also palm-based products to achieve the gross national income (GNI) contribution target for the industry of RM178 billion by 2020.
On whether anti-palm oil campaigns such as the "no palm oil" food labels in Europe would affect exports to China, Wan Mohammad said issues like environmental and deforestation played up in Europe would not surface in China.
He pointed out that the ban on the use of palm oil in infant formula preparation in 2013 had been resolved following research results and effective action taken by Malaysian Government to convince the China Food and Drug Administration.
Consumers in China have accepted palm oil as one of the important vegetables oil for consumption and imports of palm oil increased nearly 50% from 3.85 million tonnes in 2004 to 5.63 million tonnes in 2014. China's imports of palm oil from Malaysia stood at 3.9 million tonnes last year.
Besides China, Wan Mohammad said MPOB also focused on new markets like Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and the Middle East, as well as on reviving traditional markets such as India and the Philippines amid rising demand for palm oil.- Bernama
Chairman Datuk Wan Mohammad Khair-il Anuar Wan Ahmad said the focus was crucial to promote the edible oil as the Chinese people were still not aware that palm oil can be used in household products.
"We are looking at not just promoting/exporting the oils but also other palm oil-based products. We now moving mainland towards the west to regions like Chongqing besides our tradition markets of Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing," he told Bernama on the sidelines of the Palm Oil Health and Nutrition Forum in Beijing on Tuesday.
Wan Mohammad said the nutritional values of palm oil, its non-food applications as well as its usage in pharmaceuticals would be the key areas for MPOB in promoting the edible oil.
He said MPOB was looking at not just exporting the edible oil but also palm-based products to achieve the gross national income (GNI) contribution target for the industry of RM178 billion by 2020.
On whether anti-palm oil campaigns such as the "no palm oil" food labels in Europe would affect exports to China, Wan Mohammad said issues like environmental and deforestation played up in Europe would not surface in China.
He pointed out that the ban on the use of palm oil in infant formula preparation in 2013 had been resolved following research results and effective action taken by Malaysian Government to convince the China Food and Drug Administration.
Consumers in China have accepted palm oil as one of the important vegetables oil for consumption and imports of palm oil increased nearly 50% from 3.85 million tonnes in 2004 to 5.63 million tonnes in 2014. China's imports of palm oil from Malaysia stood at 3.9 million tonnes last year.
Besides China, Wan Mohammad said MPOB also focused on new markets like Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and the Middle East, as well as on reviving traditional markets such as India and the Philippines amid rising demand for palm oil.- Bernama