MPOA Website

By Ahmad Fuad Yahya  (Bernama - March 6, 2010)

JAKARTA, March 6 (Bernama) -- Six bodies representing palm oil producers and exporters from Malaysia and Indonesia have agreed to cooperate to jointly tackle issues related to palm oil, particularly those raised by non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

MPOA chief executive officer Datuk Mamat Salleh said Malaysia and Indonesia should work together in overcoming the challenges being faced by the industry at the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), in negotiations on trade regulations with the European Union and the United States, and at the International Panel on Climate Change.

By Hanim Adnan  ( StarBiz - Feb.16, 2010)

FEW realised that palm-based cooking oil, or its export name RBD palm olein, is heavily subsidised by the Government, except when there is a festive season approaching for fear of shortages in the subsidised cooking oil due to hoarding.The subsidy introduced since 1995 saw cooking oil in the domestic market sold at a relatively low price, resulting in most consumers taking the present price for granted. Many also failed to comprehend that the subsidy was meant for domestic household, particularly the low socio-economic group and rural population.

The Malaysian Palm Oil Association (MPOA) and independent palm oil refiners, which have been supporting the Government’s cooking oil subsidy for many years, are unhappy with the leakages involving the non-target groups.MPOA chief executive officer Datuk Mamat Salleh believes that local cooking oil subsidy should be for the needy (urban and rural poor) and not for the wealthy (middle and high-income group), the greedy (who wants to make more profit) or other countries (by smuggling).Leakages to non-target sectors should not be allowed and strict enforcement should be done at the borders, he said.

By Hanim Adnan, Star Biz (Feb 9,2010)

Of  the country’s total plantation labour force, the oil palm sector has the highest number at about 577,900 workers comprising some 350,000 foreigners.This is not surprising. As Malaysia aggressively expands its oil palm plantations, there is a huge dependency, about 50% to 90%, on foreign labour in the upstream side which is well known for being labour intensive. The pressing issue now is the acute shortage of foreign labourers who work as oil palm fruit harvesters in the local plantations given the dwindling labour supply from neighbouring countries and also tightening regulations on foreign labour by the Government due to the rising social and security problems.

To quote an oil palm industry veteran, Datuk Mamat Salleh, chief executive of Malaysian Palm Oil Association, “In Malaysia, money grows on oil palm trees but without harvesters, the money will be just hanging up there. So, there is less revenue for local plantation companies and foregone export earnings for the country.”

New Sabah Times  (Jan 15, 2010)

SANDAKAN: The Federal Government has allocated RM50 million to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) fund which is managed by the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities. “Malaysian Palm Oil Association (MPOA) had applied and successfully obtained the allocation from the government,” MPOA Chief Executive Dato' Mamat Salleh said in his opening remark during the RSPO workshop at the Sabah Hotel ballroom on Thursday. He added that plantation companies that had undergone the RSPO certification could claim some refund through MPOA or Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) for their CSR and environmental projects.