KUALA LUMPUR: A total of RM30mil of the collection from the palm oil cess that has increased by RM2 to RM16 from RM14 per tonne will complement the RM30mil matching grant allocated to the industry by the government under Budget 2021.
The Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry said the amount from the cess enforced on March 1 would go towards propping up the establishment of the Mechanisation and Automation Research Consortium of Oil Palm (Marcop).
“The establishment of Marcop involves the cooperation of the Malaysian Palm Oil Board and the industry.
“It is aimed at enhancing the usage of technology and farm mechanisation to optimise operational efficiency and oil palm fruit harvesting besides resolving labour shortage in the plantation sector, ” said minister Datuk Dr Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali.
He said it was appropriate to implement the new rate as crude palm oil (CPO) price is presently rising.
The cess increase applies to CPO and crude palm kernel oil producers or licence holders under the mills category, following the improvement in palm oil prices to RM3,000 per tonne and which is projected to strengthen further.
“The collection from the cess will also finance the council of palm oil producing countries which was established to jointly handle challenges at international level such as the anti-palm oil campaigns and discrimination by the European Union against palm oil-based biofuels, ” Mohd Khairuddin said.
In addition, he said, the cess would be used to finance new technologies from research and development activities, market incentivisation activities by the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, and Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil Certification including activities that focus and provide support for smallholders to enhance global competitiveness and sustainability of the country’s palm oil industry. — Bernama
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