KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia and the world's largest importer of palm oil, India, will work together to counter the anti-palm oil campaign by the West.
Plantation and Commodities Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani said India which imported 3.3 million metric tonne of palm oil worth RM13.3 billion from Malaysia in 2023, is championing Malaysia's palm oil products growth and export potential.
"India wants us to emphasise on sustainable palm oil production that can be exported to many more countries," he said.
India's push should be motivation enough for local industry players to ramp up sustainable palm oil production.
Johari is in New Delhi leading the Malaysian Agricommodity Economic Mission to India from July 17 to 18, to strengthen bilateral trade relationship and explore new cooperation opportunities.
"Industry players should start thinking about sustainable palm oil production and we hope they will continue to focus on increasing productivity," he said.
Today, Johari met with representatives from Adani Wilmar Ltd, a joint venture that has been in operation for over 25 years in India, an importer of palm oil products from Malaysia.
Tomorrow, he is scheduled to pay a courtesy call to the Indian Minister of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare to discuss issues and proposals related to trade cooperation in the agricommodity sector of both countries.
Johari will also hold an engagement session with Indian vegetable oil industry players and will deliver a keynote address at the Indian Vegetable Oil Producers Association (IVPA) Global Roundtable 3.0 Conference at IVPA's recommendation.
The round table conference will be attended by leaders of the Indian vegetable oil industry.
India is a main export market for Malaysia's palm oil followed by China.