The Star Online (14/12/2018) - BANGI: The Primary Industries Mi­­nistry will embark on a campaign to promote palm oil among Malay­sians, said its minister Teresa Kok.

She said many Malaysian consumers preferred to use canola, sunflower and soy oil imported from Europe instead of Malaysian palm oil.

“As Malaysians, if we don’t appreciate local products, how are we going to export it? We want it to be sold in the United States, China and Europe.

“We don’t appreciate palm oil but it is good and nutritious. It is important for our economy.

“There is an anti-palm oil lobby in Europe with many consumer goods such as biscuits and chocolates having labels stating that they were free of palm oil,” she said at a convocation ceremony of the Institute of Malaysian Plantation and Commodities (Impac) yesterday.

Impac, which is under the ministry, started in 2010 as an integrated training centre aimed at producing a knowledgeable and skilled workforce for the plantation and commodities sectors such as palm oil, rubber, cocoa, tobacco, timber and pepper.

Kok said Impac was expected to train 80,000 people by 2020, with more than 63,000 trained so far until September this year.

The commodities sector, she said, was one of the biggest contributors to the country, with exports worth RM140.1bil or 15% of the country’s exports last year.

Out of this, RM77.8bil or 55.6% was contributed by palm oil.

Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2018/12/14/use-more-palm-oil-kok-tells-malaysians/#ICRtC3EavRqWiXSM.99