KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 18): Malaysia is preparing to present petitions to governments of the European Union (EU), as the bloc's latest push to exclude palm oil biofuels from its renewable energy future is a form of protectionist discrimination against Malaysian palm oil exports, said the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities. 

"This is a black day for free trade, because [the EU] discriminating palm oil is a very unfair trade practice. To me, it is not about the environment, it is trade protectionism," its minister Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong told reporters on the sidelines of the Palm Oil Economic Review and Outlook Seminar 2018 here.

Yesterday, 429 Members of the European Parliament (MEP) voted for the resolution to phase out palm-based biofuels from the EU energy mix after 2020. The final decision will be made in a tripartite meeting along with the Council of the EU and the European Commission.

Mah said the parliament's vote goes against the spirit of free trade, especially since Malaysia and the EU are in negotiations for an agreement.

"Yes, we still lost the vote yesterday, but more and more MEPs are getting the accurate facts," he said, comparing it to the 640 MEPs who backed the call in April last year.

In the wake of the voting in Brussels yesterday, Mah said the ministry had formally written to energy ministers of the bloc to convey "correct facts" of the sustainability of the Malaysian palm oil, while Malaysian ambassadors in the EU are also preparing to present petitions to respective European governments.

India, EU, and China are among major export market destinations for Malaysian palm oil.

In 2017, Malaysia exported approximately 2 million tonnes of palm oil to the EU, of which about 600,000 tonnes are used as feedstock for biodiesel. Additionally, another 215,000 tonnes of palm-based biofuel are directly exported to countries of the EU, Mah said.