Wednesday 24 Apr 2024
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This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on January 15, 2020

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Malaysia needs to find a solution amid concerns of lower purchases of palm oil by major importer India.

“Well, we are concerned of course, because we sell a lot of palm oil to India. [The concern over lower offtake by India] is something that we have to find a solution [to].”

“But we have to be frank. If something goes wrong we have to say it,” Dr Mahathir told a press conference at the Bank Rakyat Integrity Forum 2020 here, yesterday.

He was responding to a Reuters report on Monday, quoting industry sources as saying Indian palm oil importers have effectively stopped all purchases from Malaysia after the government privately warned them to shun Malaysian imports.

It said the warning, issued last week, came almost in parallel with India’s move to restrict imports of refined palm oil and palm olein after Dr Mahathir criticised India’s actions in Kashmir and its new citizenship law.

Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok, however, reportedly dismissed the report about the boycott, saying Indian palm oil buyers actually want Malaysia to raise its export of crude palm oil and reduce the export of the refined product.

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