Gradual growth seen for Malaysia's palm oil industry

KUALA LUMPUR: While Malaysian palm oil continues to enjoy encouraging demand in traditional markets, growth this year is expected to be gradual as it would depend on the purchasing power of consuming countries, their gross domestic product (GDP) growth, population increase and new markets.

“Demand is factored by population growth and consumption is related to a country’s GDP. Should GDP increase, one of the first food commodities that they will spend money on is oil and fats,” said Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) deputy chief executive officer Dr S. Kalyana Sundram.