PKR's Kelana Jaya MP Wong Chen today questioned the government's decision to reduce expenditure in promoting and defending palm oil at a time when palm oil exports are becoming crucial for the country.

 

Wong ( right ) said that while concerns of environmentalists lobbying against palm oil are valid, the government must spend more to defend palm oil as it is an important cog in the local economy, producing around 500,000 jobs.

 

The government is only spending RM24.5 million to promote and defend palm oil under the latest federal budget, at a time when palm oil export had dropped by 530,000 metric tonnes between January and October this year compared to the same period last year.

 

He said the amount allocated is a mere 0.03 percent of the total expert value for palm oil, which is RM80 billion.

 

"PKR is disappointed that the Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry had decided to slash its 2015 budget for defending and promoting palm oil by 40 percent," he said during a press conference in Parliament today.

 

The previous year, the government spent RM41 million to promote and defend palm oil.

 

"The price of crude palm oil is low at RM2,200 per metric tonne and Malaysia is losing significant export sales," he said.

 

"We urge the ministry to increase its spending to a more reasonable amount of RM200 million a year to turnaround and safeguard the future of this very important industry," he said.

 

Wong noted that when Malaysia runs out of oil and gas supplies, palm oil will become Malaysia's main income category as it is a renewable industry.

 

"The total tax revenue paid by palm oil companies is around RM10 billion to RM15 billion a year," he said.

 

"Spending a mere RM24.5 million to hell the industry is blatantly unfair to oil palm companies," he added.

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