India: FTA will boost Malaysia palm oil sector
The Star | Friday February 11, 2011
India: FTA will boost Malaysia palm oil sector
By RUBEN SARIO
KOTA KINABALU: Next week’s free trade agreement (FTA) signing between Malaysia and India will be a further boost for the country’s palm oil sector and Sabah, in particular, stands to benefit.
Noting that the state was already one of Malaysia’s biggest palm oil producers, Indian High Commissioner Vijay Gokhale said that demand for the commodity was set to increase with the FTA.
“We will essentially depend on Malaysia and Indonesia, so Sabah has a big business opportunity because we will import more and more palm oil,” he said.
Gokhale said India would be reducing duties on palm oil as part of the FTA, which will make it easier for Malaysian palm oil players to export to India.
“We will be continuing to import in growing quantities of palm oil in the foreseeable future because India’s population is growing and we can’t devote our land resources to the cultivation of palm oil,” he said.
Gokhale had earlier met Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman and briefed him on the impending FTA.
He said two Indian firms Ballarpur Industries and Punj Llyoyd Ltd had already invested in Sabah.
Ballarpur had taken over the state’s sole pulp and paper manufacturer Sabah Forest Industries while Punj Lloyd was involved in building the Kimanis-Bintulu pipeline.
“I understand that nearly 1,000 Indian nationals working on the pipeline project engineers as well as (general) workers,” he added
Gokhale said India was hoping to develop with Sabah other areas such as agro-based industries, tourism, education and cultural exchange.
