Ministry to resolve forced labour allegations by US CBP, EU - Zuraida

 

Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin said her ministry aims to resolve forced labour allegations by the United States Customs and Border Protection (US CBP) and the European Union (EU) by June.

She said her ministry has requested to meet the US CBP during Ramadan but has yet to get any response.

She said meeting EU representatives will involve trial sessions and a hearing from May 8 to 18.

"The meetings with US CBP and EU are to answer their allegations, besides giving explanations on the interpretation of their terms that could be different from us.

"When there are engagements, we can provide explanations for their understanding that the terms are different and this could reduce the baseless allegations,” she told a media conference at her office in Putrajaya today.

Commenting on the issue relating to Italian confectionery firm Ferrero stopping purchases of palm oil from Sime Darby Plantation Bhd (SDP) over forced labour concerns, she stressed this allegation was not made by Ferrero.

"This is not an allegation by Ferrero but made by the US CBP. This is not true as SDP does not supply palm-based oil to Ferrero,” she said.

Earlier, SDP said Ferrero, which reportedly planned to stop sourcing palm oil from the company, is not its customer.

It said General Mills and The Hershey Company, which were mentioned in the Reuters news report published recently, were also not its customers.

Export value increases

Meanwhile, the ministry announced that the commodity export value increased to RM31.61 billion in January-February 2022 compared with RM30.01 billion in the same period last year.

The total exports comprised palm at RM19.48 billion, rubber (RM6.79 billion), timber (RM4.13 billion), cocoa (RM1.15 billion), pepper (RM0.03 billion), and tobacco (RM0.03 billion).

"The improvement was also supported by constraints in the supply of sunflower seed oil from Ukraine and Russia and an increase in productivity which boosted the palm oil market," Zuraida said.

According to the ministry, the main contributing factor to the rise in palm price is the increase in production of 20 percent, which is 3.85 million tonnes in January-February 2022 from 3.2 million tonnes in January-February 2021.

The ministry will also be organising the Malaysia International Agricommodity Expo & Summit from July 26-28 at the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre (Mitec), to provide a platform to uplift the agro-commodity sector.

It focuses on bringing all industry players, producers, investors, and other stakeholders together to showcase their products, latest equipment, and technology under one roof.

- Bernama