Malaysia to maintain status quo on biodiesel mandate

She said the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities assured the Malaysian Biodiesel Association (MBA) that it was all ears to the group's proposal that Malaysia should retain its existing biodiesel mandate.

The association has highlighted why Malaysia should not reduce or stop its biodiesel mandate as the biodiesel industry hardly consumed one million tonnes of palm oil annually as opposed to over 40 million tonnes used globally, saying that any knee-jerk reaction to banning biofuels derived from vegetable oils would cause havoc in the global vegetable oil market.

Zuraida in a statement today said that the ministry would also remain committed to implementing Malaysia's National Biofuels Policy (NBP) which was rolled out in March 2006.

The NBP remains committed to reducing the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions rate in line with the country's aspiration towards achieving GHG emissions reduction target of 45 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030.

It is also committed to expanding the use of downstream palm oil products and becoming an initiative to increase the income of oil palm smallholders through palm oil market price control mechanisms and reducing the country's dependence on fossil fuels as one of the energy security initiatives, she said.