TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Malaysia says it could stop palm oil exports to EU after new curbs
Commodities Minister Fadillah Yusof said Malaysia and Indonesia would discuss the law, which bans sale of palm oil and other commodities linked to deforestation unless importers can show that production of their specific goods has not damaged forests.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim (left) and President Joko “Jokowi“ Widodo attend a honour guard ceremony at the presidential palace in Bogor, West Java on January 9, 2023.
(AFP/Adek Berry)
M
alaysia said on Thursday it could stop exporting palm oil to the European Union in response to a new EU law aimed at protecting forests by strictly regulating sale of the product.
Commodities Minister Fadillah Yusof said Malaysia and Indonesia would discuss the law, which bans sale of palm oil and other commodities linked to deforestation unless importers can show that production of their specific goods has not damaged forests.
The EU is a major palm oil importer and the law, agreed to in December, has raised an outcry from Indonesia and Malaysia, the top producers.
"If we need to engage experts from overseas to counter whatever move by EU, we have to do it," Fadillah told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar on Thursday.
"Or the option could be we just stop exports to Europe, just focus on other countries if they (the EU) are giving us all a difficult time to export to them."
Environmental activists blame the palm oil industry for rampant clearing of Southeast Asian rainforests, though Indonesia and Malaysia have created sustainability certification standards mandatory for all plantations.
Fadillah, who is also deputy prime minister, urged the members of the Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries (CPOPC) to work together against the new law and to combat "baseless allegations" made by the EU and United States about the sustainability of palm oil.
