Kuala Lumpur, 4 January, 2002 (Business Times) - AMERICANS are switchingtheir vegetable oil consumption from the traditional soyabean oil to palmoil.For the first 11 months of 2001, Malaysian palm oil exports to the US hadincreased by 97 per cent to 191,245 tonnes compared with 93,936 tonnes forsame period a year ago.Malaysian Palm Oil Promotion Council (MPOPC) chief executive officer DatukHaron Siraj said the encouraging statistics have prompted the council totap further into the US consumer market.“Even though Americans generally prefer to consume their own soyabean oil,palm oil exports to the US are increasing,” he told Business Times in aninterview.Haron said efforts to promote palm oil will continue to be carried inseveral states in the US where the consumers there are morehealth-conscious.California, which is the world’s sixth largest economy, is one of the USstates that the council sees greater potential for Malaysian palm oil, headded.“In the US, we take a difference approach in our promotional efforts. Dueto the affluence of the people there, MPOPC focuses more on creatingpublic awareness on palm oil health benefits via seminars andexhibitions," he said.In comparison with India, Pakistan and China, the US is not a traditionalmarket for Malaysian palm oil but going by its huge consumer market, it isa country with great potential for palm oil exports from Malaysia.Haron said the MPOPC will also intensify efforts to enhance the commodity’s potential overseas.“We will go all out to augment the awareness of palm oil’s health andnutritional values and tap new markets.“The sector had seen interesting developments in certain countries lastyear where there had been a marked increase in exports of our palm oilthere.”In Iran for example, from January to August last year palm oil exports hadincreased 2,000 per cent to 60,000 tonnes compared with a mere 3,000tonnes for the corresponding period the year before.Likewise in Vietnam, from January to November, palm oil exports hadincreased 197 per cent to 191,245 tonnes compared with 96,936 tonnes.Other countries where we have recorded higher palm oil exports last yearwere Morocco, Egypt and the Association of South-East Asian Nations membercountries such as Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos.Haron also described MPOPC’s joint collaboration with the AmericanSoyabean Association (ASA) as a great milestone in fostering a closercollaboration with the edible oil rival.“ASA and MPOPC have jointly developed a margarine by the brand name ‘SmartBalance’ with has combined ingredient of both edible oils, and the productis already widely distributed in the US market,” he said.“Now, with more emphasis in the joint collaborative efforts between theGovernment and the private sector, we will continue to knock on more doorsand tap new markets,” said the former secretary general of the PrimaryIndustries Ministry.Haron said the council spends between RM20 million and RM22 millionannually on its promotional efforts, depending on the cess collected onevery tonne of palm oil produced in the country from both the privatesector and state-run plantation agencies.The cess is allocated to the council by its parent agency, the MalaysianPalm Oil Board (MPOB), which is the regulator and watchdog of the country’s palm oil sector.To date, the MPOPC has nine offices or representatives. They are locatedin Austria, the US, South Africa, Brazil, China, Bangladesh, India,Pakistan and Egypt. Meanwhile, thee MPOB has offices in the UK, Iran, HongKong and Egypt.Haron said the MPOPC has six regional committees which are responsible forvarious marketing and promotional activities in their respective regions.The MPOPC also participates in various trade missions and organisesseminars and exhibitions with agencies such as Malaysia External TradeDevelopment Corp, International Trade and Industry Ministry andassociations from the private sector.Haron stressed that the types of promotional efforts, however, vary fromone country to another as each country has to be approached in its ownunique way.“Promotions in Bangladesh, for example, go for mass appeal. We try toreach the masses there by bringing our own chefs to hold cookingdemonstrations there,” Haron said.The MPOPC has also with local companies in Bangladesh, produced a blendedcooking oil of palm oil and soyabean oil for the local market there.Efforts are also taken to promote the product to food manufacturers,bakeries and confectioneries there.Haron admitted there are quiet markets which have not registered a jump inMalaysian palm oil exports.He said that in countries such as Japan and South Korea, the peopletraditionally consume their own agricultural products and as such it isdifficult for Malaysian palm oil to make a big impact here.“Palm oil awareness will grow as consumers start to discover the risks ofconsuming oils derived from genetically modified products, and animal fatssuch as tallow from cattle.“Let’s not forget that there is an enormous potential for palm oil use asbiofuel and biomass which is still largely untapped,” Haron added.Malaysia is the world’s biggest producer of palm oil. Last year, thecountry exported 10.38 million tonnes of palm oil worth RM12.7 billion to140 countries. Its pam oil exports in 1996 was 8.32 million tonnes worthRM9.4 billion.