KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 12 (Bernama) -- Biodiesel produced from palm oil has already been exported overseas and the new industry is expected to have a big impact on the national economy.

Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities, Datuk Dr S Vijayaratnam said that until Nov, some 75 licences to produce the biofuel had been issued and that five plants were already in operation or in the process of getting off the ground.

He added that the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) had also been successfully able to come up with the technology to build biodiesel plants and was in the process of building three such plants.

They would be operated by three private companies namely Carotino Sdn Bhd, Golden Hope Plantations Bhd and Kumpulan Fima Berhad, he told Senator Idris Buang in the Dewan Negara, here Tuesday.

"The Carotino plant has already been completed and is now operating. Oil palm biodiesel from the three plans is meant for export and will give good returns to the nation's economy.

"Other than exporting palm oil biodiesel, Malaysia can also export the plant technology developed by MPOB," he added.

He also told Senator Lee Sing Chooi that the five biodiesel plants in the country (the other two are private ventures) could produce about 258,000 tonnes of fuel annually using refined palm oil as the basic raw material.

"Germany, the United States and several other European countries are the main markets," he added.

-- BERNAMA