The Star Online (07/03/2018) - KUALA LUMPUR: Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV) plans to expand its palm oil downstream business into Pakistan and Myanmar, said group president and chief executive officer Datuk Zakaria Arshad.

“We have a lot of potential development in Pakistan as we are one of the biggest investors and exporters in the country. We do have palm oil refineries, port and logistics there.

“We are going to produce downstream products from Pakistan by exporting our olein and crude palm oil and we will process them there,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the annual Palm and Lauric Oils Conference and Exhibition, Price Outlook 2018 Conference and Exhibition (POC 2018) here yesterday.

He said FGV is exporting between 20,000 tonnes and 30,000 tonnes of palm oil per month to Pakistan, contributing between 20% and 30% to the group’s revenue.

As for Myanmar, plans were afoot to build palm oil refineries in the next two years, Zakaria said.

On India’s palm oil import tax hike, he said it would only have a short-term impact on FGV.

“I do not think this will prolonged, this will only be temporary. For FGV, this is not much because our palm oil export to India is only 10%.

“India needs to import because its supply is small. Sooner or later it has to import palm oil for its consumption,” he added.

India, the world’s biggest palm oil importer, has raised import tax on crude and refined palm oil to the highest level starting early this month, in a move designed to support local farmers.

The three-day POC 2018, which ends today, is organised by Bursa Malaysia Bhd and has attracted 1,700 participants. — Bernama