KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) has secured a total potential sales of RM705 million from a business matching session during trade and networking visit for Middle East and Northern African (Mena) buyers recently.
MPOC CEO Belvinder Sron said the buyers from oils and fats companies across three Mena countries – Turkiye, Egypt and Algeria – sought various palm products, including refined bleached deodorised (RBD) palm olein in both consumer packs and bulk containers, cooking oil, shortening and specialty fats.
Describing the initiative as a success, she said MPOC has been approached by industry members to organise similar programmes for markets in the Asia-Pacific and Sub-Saharan African regions.
“The success of this programme is attributed to the cooperation and strong support of Malaysian palm oil stakeholders.
“I encourage more industry members to participate in the upcoming ‘Trade and Networking’ editions as it is crucial that we intensify efforts to promote sustainable Malaysian palm oil to the world and explore untapped markets,“ she said in a statement yesterday.
One of the Malaysian companies that participated in the event said the programme helped local small companies to access different markets and gain exposure on an international platform of palm oil industries.
Oilnco Industries Sdn Bhd regional sales manager Mohammed Zubir Abdul Razak said that since their products are primarily exported to the Middle East and Central Asia, he hoped that the palm oil industry can penetrate into the European market since they prefer to use soybean or sunflower oil.
“Penetrating the European market requires a long-term strategy rather than short-term fixes, so we need to establish connections at various levels, including ministerial, to succeed in penetrating these markets.
“This is where organisations like MPOC can come and help industry players to market palm oil products to these countries,“ he told Bernama recently.
Meanwhile, a participant from Egypt said the acceptance level of palm oil products is very good since Egyptians prefered vegetable-based products.
Vice-chairman and manager director of Cairo Oil & Soap Co, Amr Heiba said even though they preferred soy bean and sunflower oil, Egyptians are open to use the palm oil-based products due to its competitive prices in the market.
“This is the first time we came to Malaysia and we found it interesting to see various processes involved in the palm oil production supply chain at one of the plantation sites.
“This kind of event (if ever organised in future) should be broaden to more countries to help promote the palm oil products,“ he said.
The three-day programme provided insights into the Malaysian palm oil sector such as presentations on the nutrition and health attributes of Malaysian palm oil and updates from the Palm Oil Refiners Association of Malaysia on the mid or downstream sectors review, outlook and current issues.
