Govt confident of B10 biodiesel rollout

A biodiesel sticker is displayed at a pump station at Sime Darby Biodiesel plant in Carey Island - Filepic

KUALA LUMPUR: After several postponements, Malaysia is confident of implementing the B10 biodiesel programme this year.

Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas said they were currently at the tail end of a very “extensive consultation” process.

“That is why it takes us a bit of time to be able to present the paper to the Cabinet. The paper should be ready as soon as possible. I can’t give you a deadline.

“I have been giving you deadlines, but we could never keep to the deadline. There is still some testing to be done and some final discussions to complete,” he said during a press conference at the Palm and Lauric Oils Conference and Exhibition, Price Outlook 2016/2017 here yesterday. “I am confident it will be this year,” he told reporters.

He added that Malaysia had already put in place an efficient system that would allow the enforcement of the B10 system to take within two days of implementation.

Asked why Malaysia could not keep up with Indonesia, which has already implemented the B15 biodiesel and is planning to move further to implement the B20 biodiesel, he said Malaysia “has its own system”.

“There are costs involved, we have to be practical – there are many considerations. We feel B10 is sufficient at the moment, in view of our stocks and in view of the cost,” he said.

On the crude palm oil (CPO) export tax, he said it would be enforced when prices touched RM2,250 per tonne.

A monthly average CPO price above RM2,250 per tonne incurs a tax, which starts from 4.5% and can reach a maximum of 8.5%.

“For March it will be zero (tax), so we will see how the prices are in March and go on from there,” he said.

Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in his speech said Malaysia earned RM63.2bil from 26.2 million tonnes of palm oil product exports in 2015.

The sector, he said, contributed to 8.1% of Malaysia’s total merchandise exports.

“The Government will continue to facilitate the development of the palm oil industry by making available grants for specific projects for the period 2016 to 2020.

“These include an allocation of RM250mil to encourage investments in the production of oleochemicals and food and health value-added products, and RM4.5mil to smallholders and plantation companies to acquire in-field machineries,” he said in a speech read out on his behalf by Uggah.