MPOB: Malaysia Wants To Make Egypt The Distribution Hub For Palm Oil

From Azlee Nor Mahmud CAIRO, Dec 16 (Bernama) -- Malaysia intends to make Egypt as the distribution hub for palm oil within 10 years, as the country is a strategic market that has access to West Asian and African regions, says Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) Chairman, Wan Mohammad Khair-il Anuar Wan Ahmad. "We have to look at government to government (G2G) and business to business (B2B) approach as the people and the governments can benefit from it," he told reporters at the Malaysia-Egypt Palm Oil Trade Fair and Seminar (POTS) here, Tuesday. The Malaysia-Egypt POTS is mooted to acknowledge the importance of Egypt as a major palm oil consumer and more importantly, a discerning customer of Malaysian palm oil. The two-day event is designed to offer oils and fats players both from in and outside Egypt a platform to exchange and discuss issues affecting trade and business networking. "Malaysia and Indonesia combined is the biggest supplier of palm oil with 85 per cent of the world's market. "Malaysia has gone through (a lot of) research and development, which can be capitalised and commercialised by the players. Egypt is very important market," he said. He said this seminar could be a good platform for both countries so that they could go beyond the next level. Meanwhile, Malaysian Ambassador to Egypt, Ku Jaafar Ku Shaari commented on the Suez Canal, which is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt that is very impressive and will attract many shipping companies from years to come. "The intention of the government is to develop a huge economic zone and there are (Malaysian) companies coming on their own to have a look at it. "We are also discussing the possibility of establishing a hub...setting up some factories in a hub for the region," Ku Jaafar said. "I would like to link it to the Straits of Malacca. And if we can link this passageway further to central Europe, I see big potential here. "If there are companies which are interested to link the Straits of Malacca shipping to the Suez Canal, then Malaysian companies should take advantage of that," he said. On trade, he said trade between Malaysia and Egypt amounted to US$430 million from January to September 2015, but the figure was slightly lower than last year. "Trade will certainly increase in the upcoming three months," he added. Meanwhile, export from Egypt to Malaysia has doubled from last year to more than US$200 million in the period, compared to the previous years whereby it only breached slightly more than US$100 million. --BERNAMA