Malaysian Biodiesel Group Against Move to Reduce or Revoke Mandate

The Malaysian Biodiesel Association (MBA) said the government should not reduce or stop the biodiesel mandate in the country, the Bernama news reported on April 26.  In a statement, MBA has urged the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) to engage the biodiesel industry before taking any precipitative action.  “The palm oil industry as a whole, both upstream and downstream biodiesel would suffer from any such action, as it would result in CPO price crashing to a very low level.”

MBA cited the Indonesian government decision to ban palm oil export to protect its cooking oil market but did not retract its biodiesel mandate, which is currently at B30, adding that countries like the United States, Argentina and Brazil as well as the European Union have not come up with any recommendations to stop their biofuel programs.  Moreover, MBA said the situation for Malaysia was completely different as the country is mainly an export-oriented market with small domestic market, hardly consuming one million tons yearly locally but exporting over 40 million tons worldwide.