EU – Malaysia: is palm oil’s fate decided?

Malaysia is going to file a lawsuit to the World Trade Organization if the European Union enacts a ban on the use of palm oil as a raw material for biofuel production, reports UkrAgroConsult.

According to the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the planned prohibitive measure will have an adverse impact on the country’s economy as a whole and, in particular, its palm oil industry. At the same time, it was emphasized that Malaysia had consistently provided evidence that there is no need to impose such a ban, but received no convincing explanation from the European party to justify this step.

As a reminder, on March 13, the European Union approved the introduction of a ban on the use of palm oil for biofuel production in order to prevent excessive clearance of tropical forests for palm plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia, the key palm oil producing countries. According to the bloc’s decision, palm oil will be phased out from biofuel production from 2023 and fully banned from 2030.