18/06/2008 (The Star Online), Bangi - The palm oil industry stands to be the biggest revenue earner for Malaysia this year if the current bullish price for the commodity is sustained, said Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui.

He said palm oil products export revenue was projected to exceed RM50bil this year from last year's record of RM45.6bil.

China maintains its position as the largest importer of local palm oil for the sixth consecutive year with import value totalling RM10.4bil followed by the European Union at RM7.4bil and Pakistan at RM2.8bil.

Chin said at the opening of Malaysia Palm Oil Board's (MPOB) seminar on Transfer of Technology yesterday that the ministry with MPOB and Malaysian Palm Oil Council would continue to strive to position local palm oil as the premium quality oil produced from sustainable production.

It also wants to educate consumers on the technical advantages of palm oil for both edible and non-edible usage.

Citing a MPOB report, he said: “Commercialisation of technology resulting from research and development (R&D) is one of the most important key performance indicators for the board.”

So far, MPOB had launched 405 new technologies with a commercialisation rate of 32%.

Chin said MPOB had initiated a three-pronged R&D strategy to achieve remunerative prices for palm oil products, adopt zero waste concept and produce value-added products.

“This strategy aims to increase oil palm productivity by adopting superior planting materials, including cloning palms, systematic agronomic practices and crops integration in the oil palm plantations,” he added.

Among the technologies launched by MPOB yesterday were those on biotechnology techniques and agronomy practices such as transgenic oil palm mediated by Agrobacterium tumefaciens and agronomic effectiveness of Phosphate fertilisers for mature oil palm Lepcon-1.

It also unveiled andalm-based bio-fertiliser from decanter cake and boiler ash of palm oil mill.

In addition, the new palm oil-based formulations for food products launched include trans-free soft spread, palm oil-based trans-free reconstituted milk, palm oil-based trans-free brick spread for shallow frying and production of Tocotrienol enriched eggs.