THE agriculture ministries of Malaysia and Indonesia have agreed to form a technical working group with the Philippine Department of Agriculture (DA) to address the issue of the oversupply of palm oil in the Philippines, to the detriment of the coconut industry.
“During yesterday’s meeting, it was agreed that the technical working group will draft recommendations on the rationalization of palm oil exports to the Philippines,” DA Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said in a social media post on Thursday, referring to his counterparts, Malaysia’s Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry and Indonesia’s Ministry of Agriculture.
Mr. Piñol said he proposed that the other two countries’ ministries maintain palm oil exports at a level that will not disadvantage the Philippines’ own coconut and palm oil industry and check the smuggling of crude and refined palm oil to the Philippines, whie opening their markets to Philippine agricultural products.
“Importation data gathered by the DA showed that exports of Palm Oil to the Philippines by both Indonesia and Malaysia have increased by 100% over the last three years,” Mr. Piñol said.
“Since Palm Oil is cheaper than coconut oil, the increase in Palm Oil exports was cited one of the reasons behind the collapse of copra prices,” Mr. Piñol added.
Mr. Piñol said in January that Indonesia is not willing to open its market to Philippine products.
“It looks like they are not really ready to open up their markets. Our negotiators came home disheartened but we are not giving up. We are pursuing,” Mr. Piñol said. — Reicelene Joy N. Ignacio
