13/6/06 (China Daily) - The Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA), the largest palm oil manufacturer in the world, has high hopes for China now that the nation has raised the quota for imports and showed a strong demand for the product in the first quarter.

Tan Sri Mohamed Yusof Noor, the chairman of the Malaysian firm, said his company aims to boost exports to China from 800,000 tons in 2005 to 1 million tons this year.

He estimated China's total demand for palm oil imports is 5 million tons.

To accommodate demand from countries like China and India, FELDA has decided to increase its production of palm oil from 3 million tons to 5 million tons this year.

"We have been exporting palm oil for the past 10 years, but the Chinese market is definitely a top priority for us and it will be more important in the future," said the chairman.

One reason for the optimism of the State-owned plantation group is the lift of import quotas on palm oil by China this year.

Statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture show that China's imports of palm oil rose by almost 20 per cent to 899,000 tons in the first quarter of this year.
According to the Ministry of Commerce, 68 per cent of the palm oil imported into China last year came from Malaysia.