Minister downplays Indian boycott after latest palm oil deal signed
Nicholas Chung
-November 14, 2019 4:22 PM
Bohai Malaysia chairman Khairuddin Abu Hassan shakes hands with Yan Dong Sheng of Boce Global, as (from left) Teresa Kok, Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Saifuddin Abdullah watch, at the Perdana Leadership Foundation in Putrajaya today.PUTRAJAYA: Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok said that only a segment of Indian palm oil importers is part of the boycott of Malaysian products, after an agreement was inked between a Malaysian company with two supply chain managers from India and China.
“India has a 1.3 billion population. There are many companies and traders, so not everyone will do the same,” Kok said after witnessing the signing of a memorandum of understanding here, which was also attended by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah.
The MoU was signed by Malaysia’s Bohai Commodity Exchange, Hakan Agro DMCC of India and Boce Global of China.
Bohai was represented by its chairman Khairuddin Abu Hassan.
Kok said New Delhi has not commented on the boycott move, which was called by a business group to protest Mahathir’s criticism of India over the Kashmir issue at the United Nations General Assembly in September.
“It’s just the association,” said Kok.
She said DMCC and Boce were expected to import between 1 million and 1.5 million metric tonnes of Malaysian palm oil next year.
“On top of India and China, I am confident that Malaysia will find new and alternative markets for palm oil with growth targeted in Asean, Africa and the Middle East,” she said, adding that the recent spike in palm oil prices would help “prove many detractors wrong”.
