Published October 21, 2008

KL mulls steps to check slide in palm oil prices

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(KUCHING) Malaysia will act to address the slide in global crude palm oil (CPO) prices to ensure the sustainability of the country's oil palm industry.

Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Peter Chin Fah Kui said Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi would chair a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Competitiveness of Palm Oil today.

'One of the issues to be discussed is the slide in the CPO prices and the steps to be taken to address the problem,' he told reporters after opening the Modipalm Continuous Sterilisation forum here yesterday.

Mr Chin said one of the possibilities being considered was to waive the excess profit tax imposed on plantation companies.

'This is being considered by the government especially now that the CPO price is around RM1,650 (S$693), which is below the threshold price of RM2,000 per tonne,' he said.

He said Malaysia would work closely with Indonesia on marketing, promoting and supply programmes for palm oil.

'A working visit to Indonesia is in the pipeline to iron out the details and mechanisms of implementation,' he said.

On high fertiliser prices, Mr Chin said Deputy Prime Minister-cum-Finance Minister Najib Tun Razak will attend a meeting this week with the manufacturers and producers of fertilisers.

'The meeting will find out the reasons for the high prices, which have affected the smallholders where some are forced to do away with fertilisers to cut down their operation costs,' he said.

Mr Chin said with global oil prices on a downtrend, it was puzzling to see fertiliser prices not following suit. -- Bernama