Malaysia wants palm oil hubs in Egypt, Saudi Arabia

Fadillah Yusof, Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister said that the state plans to expand palm oil exports into Middle East and African markets by creating new export hubs in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, according to his interview with Nikkei Asia on Thursday.

The Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) are trying to push further into emerging markets, which have recently seen their re-exports of the oil rise, Yusof mentioned in the interview.

The Deputy Prime Minister further added that there are few strategies he looks for, including strengthening relations with all countries that are close to Malaysia through exploring new markets.

Yusof spoke with the Egyptian ambassador to Malaysia, who said that Egypt is keen on being the regional hub for palm oil distribution. “They want to import more from us and they want Egypt to be the hub so they can spread it out to Africa.”

Last December, a Malaysian company was in talk with Egypt to establish a two-stage palm oil production project with investments totalling $30 million, the Middle East News Agency (MENA) cited the Egyptian Commercial Service’s (ECS) Head, Yahya Elwathik Bellah.