The Malaysian minister told a media gathering that talks are on with Qatar government entities and industrialists. Zuraida Kamaruddin was in town on a two-day mission as part of her Economic and Agri Commodities Promotion Mission, to promote Agri Malaysia International Agriculture Technology Exhibition, to be held in Kuala Lumpur on September 20-22.
The Malaysian minister, earlier, chaired a roundtable meeting with Qatar's Minister of Municipality HE Dr Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Turki al-Subaie, HE the Minister of Commerce and Industry Sheikh Mohamed bin Hamad bin Qassim al-Abdullah al-Thani, HE the Chairman of Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim al-Thani along with Qatari agri commodities players and company representatives.
Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin said they have reached an agreement with retail chains including LuLu and Al Meera to promote domestic use of palm oil. As part of the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities (MPIC) initiatives in promoting Malaysian agri commodity products, there are also plans to promote rubber and timber in Qatar. The minister was accompanied by Malaysian experts and company representatives who held talks with Qatari companies.
The minister noted there is an increase in palm oil consumption in the Qatari market and this is excellent news to the industry players and market onlookers. “This shows Malaysia is prepared to meet the encouraging demand for palm oil from the Qatari market. A few promising ideas, such as exploring the applications of the rubberised road in Qatar are being discussed and Malaysia is hopeful that the initiatives will benefit all involved parties,” she said.
According to statistics from the Malaysian embassy, Malaysian Palm Oil Board anticipated crude palm oil production to improve by 4.9% to 19mn tonnes this year, from 18.12mn tonnes in 2021, resulting in palm oil stocks increasing 21.1% to 1.95 mn tonnes, from 1.61 mn tonnes in 2021.
The Malaysian minister earlier visited Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Egypt. Among the achievements are proposals to establish joint venture partnerships in India and Pakistan. She noted that there are also proposals from Qatar and Egypt to invest with Malaysian companies to set up production facilities in Malaysia. The press conference was attended by MPIC deputy secretary general Mad Zaidi bin Mohd Karli and Malaysian ambassador Zamshari Shaharan.