I WAS attending the inauguration of United Plantations Bhd’s (UP) high-tech palm oil processing plant and Unifuji refinery project in the presence of Deputy Yang di-Pertuan Agong and Sultan of Perak Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah last thursday in Tanjung Malim.

Indeed, the opening of the new palm oil mill called “optimill” and refinery plant is not only important in providing skill employment for locals, but more importantly adds value of crude palm oil (CPO) to produce value-added palm fraction without using fossil fuels and complies with highest food safety and quality standards.

Certainly, the effort made by Unifuji Sdn Bhd – a joint venture company between UP and Japanese firm Fuji Oil Co Ltd – should be lauded as it encourages other palm oil holders to do the same in using CPO to produce high-end products and fulfil the strictest food safety, sustainability and hygiene standards in the world.

On top of that, it would also make our palm oil industry still relevant and competitive to continuously support economic growth.

Looking at the current situation, the price of CPO has slumped drastically compared to the last few years due to several reasons. The mandatory action made by some European Union countries rallying against the use of palm oil and the flagging incremental demand in China for soy and rapeseed oil had dropped the demand outlook.

In view of this, it is timely for our local palm oil industry to add value of products and fulfil the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification standard to make it more competitive and globally accepted. – January 22, 2019.

* Ahmad Shahir Abdul Aziz reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.