MALAYSIA has appealed to the United Kingdom for help to fight a plan by European Union lawmakers to ban the use of palm oil in stages beginning this year, saying that the move would also endanger British jobs and the economy, reports The Telegraph.

Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok told the daily that the proposed ban by the EU would put 35,000 British jobs and £150 million (RM800 million) in exports on the chopping board.

“It would be helpful for us if the UK uses its influence in Europe to help us to stop this discrimination,” Kok was quoted as saying.

She urged Theresa May’s government to “take the lead” by becoming the first European nation to recognise Malaysia’s efforts to produce palm oil sustainably.

Under the new EU law, the use of more harmful biofuels including palm oil will be capped at 2019 levels until 2023 and reduced to zero by 2030.

Kok said the EU’s stance risked escalating a brewing trade war with Indonesia and Malaysia, two of the world’s biggest oil palm growers.

“We buy a lot from Europe, but this can change,” she told The Telegraph.

An estimated 34,641 British jobs depend on EU exports to Southeast Asia, according to think-tank Copenhagen Economics.

Brexit could pave the way to a swift free trade agreement with Malaysia if the EU goes ahead with its ban, said Kok.

“We’ll be very pleased to quicken the process.”

Malaysia and Indonesia consider the EU proposal as discriminatory as it ignores the fact that soy oil, which is also used in bio fuels and is planted in North and South America, has also caused widespread deforestation.

Last year, the EU imported 1.9 million tonnes of Malaysian crude palm oil (CPO), the second largest buyer of the commodity after India at 2.51 million tonnes.

Besides cooking, palm oil is also used in cosmetics, food and biofuels. – May 17, 2019.