New Straits Times (17/01/2019) - PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia wants World Health Organisation (WHO) to retract and rectify its recent wrongful allegations of likening palm oil marketing to that of lobbying tobacco and alcohol.

On January 8, 2019, a study published by the WHO claimed the palm oil industry was deploying tactics similar to those of the alcohol and tobacco industries to influence nutrition research.

The study titled ‘The palm oil industry and non-communicable diseases’ had dishonestly claimed the relationship between the palm oil and processed food industries, and the tactics they employed resemble practices adopted by the tobacco and alcohol industries.

“It is very disturbing for WHO, in its bulletin, to equate the lobbying of palm oil to that of tobacco and alcohol. It's not true,” said Primary Industries Deputy Minister Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin.

“As a global body, WHO should be professional and responsible in its statements. We will use all channels to have WHO retract and rectify this wrongful report from its bulletin,” he said.

The deputy minister was speaking to reporters after officiating at the ‘Palm Oil Economic Review and Outlook Seminar 2019’ organised by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB).

Also present at the event were Primary Industries Ministry secretary general Datuk Dr. Tan Yew Chong, MPOB chairman Tan Sri Bakke Salleh and MPOB director general Datuk Kushairi Din.

Last night, Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah, in a statement, said Malaysia had urged France to stop discriminating and accord equal opportunities to palm oil trade like that of other vegetable oils such as rapeseed and sunflower.

On December 19, 2018, the French National Assembly adopted an amendment to its 2019 Budget to exclude the use of palm oil as biodiesel feedstock and to end tax incentives for palm oil, effective January 2020.

Saifuddin reportedly said this was a de facto ban, as it would make palm oil uncompetitive, leaving Europe’s home-grown rapeseed and sunflower oils as variants qualifying for EU government’s biodiesel subsidies.

"This action does not augur well for the global economy, particularly for palm oil producing countries such as Malaysia where 650,000 smallholders and two million Malaysians are highly dependent on the industry for their livelihoods,” Saifuddin had said.

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had written on this matter to president of France Emmanuel Macron and the letter was handed over to the French Ambassador in Kuala Lumpur Frédéric Laplanche on January 14, 2019.

Shamsul described Dr Mahathir’s letter as the first step in Malaysia’s fight to uphold truth and put a stop to smear campaigns against the palm oil industry.

“We will not keep quiet. We will go all out to speak the truth. World Bank studies have shown that oil palm planting has helped poverty alleviation and bridge the income gap between urban and rural communities,” Shamsul said.

Latest MPOB data showed Malaysia’s 2018 palm oil exports amounted to RM65.12 billion, down 13 per cent from 2017’s RM74.75 billion.

Shamsul, in reading out Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok speech, attributed the 13 per cent fall in palm oil exports to tumbling palm oil prices.

“Among challenges palm oil exporters face include low pricing, build-up of domestic palm oil stocks and volatility of ringgit against the US dollar, he said.

“Palm oil prices had declined to an average of RM2,232.00 a tonne in 2018 from 2017’s average of RM2,783.00,” he said, adding this had dragged Malaysia’s palm oil export value despite the higher volume shipped out to consuming countries.

On outlook for 2019, Shamsul is optimistic that Malaysia's increased usage of palm biodiesel would be supportive of MPOB’s forecast of palm oil averaging above RM2,500 per tonne from the current sluggish level of RM2,100 per tonne.