KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities (KPPK) will continue to hold engagement sessions to find a win-win solution for all parties in the palm oil sector following the announcement of the reduction in palm cooking oil prices in stages.

This is mainly to ensure the welfare of oil palm smallholders, according to Minister Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin.

Zuraida said the ministry is committed to ensuring that the palm oil industry remains the largest commodity sector and continues to contribute to the country's economic development to ensure the well-being of the people.

Therefore, KPPK welcomes the announcement of a gradual price reduction which is expected to be implemented in the near future.

Chairman of the Jihad Taskforce Against Inflation, Tan Sri Annuar Musa yesterday said the palm cooking oil industry had in principle agreed to make adjustments to lower the price of cooking oil based on the current market price of palm oil.

Zuraida said that previously, KPPK had held a series of dialogues with players in the palm cooking oil industry to find solutions to address the issue of rising prices of essential goods, without compromising the competitiveness of the sector.

"The industry has given good cooperation to the government in this matter, based on the spirit of Keluarga Malaysia," she said.

The minister said the increase in the price of crude palm oil (CPO) had caused the price of palm oil products including cooking oil to increase significantly in the local market due to low CPO production and rising soybean oil prices.

Palm product prices were also affected by rising Brent crude oil prices and the strong palm oil export performance in key markets.

"Palm oil prices began to show a significant upward trend starting in mid-2020 and have several times broken the highest price record in the history of the country's palm oil industry in January 2021 to May 2022," she explained.

The government has offset the price increase through subsidies to 60,000 tonnes or 60 million one kilogramme (kg) polybag packets to meet the needs of local consumers, especially the B40 group.

The price of a subsidised packet of cooking oil for local consumers is set at RM2.50 per kg, compared to the actual market price of around RM6.00 per kg.

-- BERNAMA