KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 28): Malaysia is not convinced that the evaluation of palm oil has been fair and just, said Minister of Primary Industries Teresa Kok.

Kok was responding to the Norwegian Parliament's vote earlier this month that will make Norway the first country in the world to ban biofuels based on palm oil, saying it will go against free and fair trade of sustainably-produced palm oil products.

In a statement today, Kok urged Norwegian lawmakers to review the policy after better understanding of sustainable practices in the industry.

"Without clear and proper definitions and based on a decision not supported by validated facts, we are concerned that Norway, like some countries in Europe, will generalise and lump together all palm oil producers as drivers of deforestation and therefore deemed as unsustainable," she said.

She reiterated that Malaysia, as a responsible producer of palm oil, had already set in motion various initiatives to ensure sustainable practices are the norm throughout the palm oil value chain, including implementing the mandatory Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certification.

"But, it appears these efforts are not appreciated and largely ignored by Europe including Norway, which continues to label our palm oil as unsustainable. We view this as unfair and unjust, going against free and fair trade, and is certainly not something we will take lightly," Kok added.

She added that Malaysia would therefore factor in such actions carefully in the country's deliberations with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), whose members are Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland.

"The Malaysia EFTA partnership agreement must provide fair market access to all of the countries involved, including fair treatment of sustainable palm oil which is produced in Malaysia.

"Without this fair market access, it will not be in the interest of Malaysia to pursue what will be a bad deal for the country and its people, particularly our 650,000 oil palm smallholders whose livelihood is at stake," she said.

Norway had on Dec 7 voted on the decision after a gradual process in limiting Norwegian use of palm oil and an all-time high consumption of palm-oil based fuels last year. The decision will be enforced from 2020.

On Dec 8, the world's largest palm oil plantation company by planted area, Sime Darby Plantation Bhd, saw its share price slide 4.5% to RM4.48, before recovering to RM4.72 as at 11.30am today.

Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd was trading two sen lower at RM24.12 while IOI Corp Bhd skid one sen to RM4.39 at the time of writing.