MIRI, Sept 20 — Malaysia’s palm products export revenue increased significantly for the first six months of this year, totalling 14.05 million tonnes with a value of RM71.02 billion recorded during the period.

Deputy Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities Datuk Willie Mongin said in the same period last year, the export of the product was recorded at 11.54 million tonnes with a value of RM45.75 billion.

"This is due to the high demand from importing countries and the high price of palm oil in the market,” he said at the launching of Oil Palm Smallholders National Conference 2022 here today.

For the whole of 2021, he said Malaysia exported 25.44 million tonnes of palm oil to more than 160 countries, contributing to an export income worth RM108.52 billion.

He said as an agricultural commodity that is oriented toward the export market, the oil palm industry faced various challenges that could threaten the trade of the product abroad.

"It is important for all parties in the industry to work together to address this challenge which will make the country’s oil palm industry more mature and competitive,” he said.

Willie said the usage of technology in the oil palm plantation sector, in addition to good agricultural practices and sustainable production, could have an impact on increasing yields and strengthening the industry’s competitiveness.

He said the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) has produced various technologies that could be used by the industry and smallholders to increase their output such as the motorised fresh fruit bunches (FFB) harvesting machine or Cantas, which increased the yield by more than 100 per cent to 8.7 tonnes a day compared with 3.6 tonnes per day with the manual method.

Willie said the government is also encouraging palm oil smallholders to engage in the practice of crop and livestock integration through incentive schemes worth up to RM7,000 per hectare for crops and RM15,000 for livestock.

He added that these smallholders are also advised to join the Sustainable Oil Palm Growers Cooperatives (KPSM), which allowed them to get government funding for their farming efforts.

About 500 oil palm smallholders participated in the two-day conference, which was also attended by MPOB Chairman Jugah Muyang@Tambat and MPOB Director General Dr Ahmad Parveez Ghulam Kadir. — Bernama