THE price of palm oil in the country has decreased due to an excess of the commodity, said Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok.

During the ministry’s winding up debate, Kok said the average price for crude palm oil from January until July this year had decreased 17.3% to RM2,393.50 from RM2,895 during the first half of 2017.

“The decrease in price for the first half of the year is due to the high stock for palm oil in that period,” said Kok at the Dewan Rakyat today.

Opposition lawmakers Noraini Ahmad (BN-Parit Sulong) and Ismail Mohamed Said (BN-Kuala Krau) then said they did not see an oversupply of palm oil stock considering that their constituencies consist mostly of palm oil estate.

“Almost 3/4 of my constituency consists of palm oil estate. I constantly go back there, and I do not see an excess of palm oil like the minister has mentioned,” said Noraini, who then asked what the ministry would do to overcome the oversupply of stock.

Kok said the ministry would promote activities to increase awareness of palm oil’s benefits and thus increase domestic palm oil use as a way to deplete excess stock.

She said the ministry is also planning to increase the use of palm oil in the transportation industry.

Ismail then asked if China had diverted its palm oil trade with Indonesia due to the difference in price between palm oil in Malaysia and Indonesia.

He also questioned if it was because Malaysia’s palm oil quality was lesser than Indonesia’s.

Kok, who is also Seputeh MP, said exports of palm oil to China and India had increased in the first five months this year.

“There have been no problems between Malaysia and China all this while. I also understand that our palm oil exports to China has increased,” she said, adding Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s visit to China this month would further strengthen the bilateral relationship between both countries.

She also said China was buying more from Indonesia as the latter offered a lower price for commodity compared with Malaysia.

“If Malaysia reduces the price, small-scale farmers will face further losses,” she said.

She said the decrease in the palm oil price is not due to the boycott by European Union on the country’s palm oil.

“As of May 2018, palm oil exports to EU increased 26.52% to 876,953 tonnes and the total value of palm oil export increased to RM2.32 billion as compared with RM2.29 billion last year.” – August 6, 2018.