India, the world's biggest buyer of edible oils, last week placed curbs on imports of refined palm oil and has informally asked traders to stop importing all kinds of palm oil from Malaysia, the world's second biggest producer and exporter of the commodity after Indonesia. "This year, we foresee more challenges in some of our major markets," Teresa Kok, Malaysia's primary industries minister who is in charge of the palm oil portfolio, told an industry conference, referring to India's new palm import rules. On Tuesday, he said Malaysia was concerned about the palm oil curbs but indicated he would continue to speak out against "wrong things" even if it costs his country financially. India was Malaysia's biggest buyer of palm oil in 2019, with 4.4 million tonnes of purchases. The other concern for Malaysia is that following the signing of an initial trade deal between the United States and China on Wednesday, China could but more soyoil from the United States and less Malaysian palm oil.

Source: bd News24 January 16, 2020 07:30 UTC