A Review of MPO Export Performance (MT)

Table 1: Export of Malaysian Palm Oil into the European Region, including Central Asia for January – July  2023

Export Performance of Malaysian Palm Oil into the European Region

Figure 1: Import Trend of Top 5 Malaysian Palm Oil Importers in Europe for January –  July 2023

The EU imported a total of 608,123 MT for January – July 2023 from Malaysia, with a value of RM2.64 billion. However, the volume imported by EU declined by 29% or about 240,000 MT. This is also reflected in a reduction in the value of exports from RM5.1 billion to RM2.64 billion. The Netherlands remained the biggest exporting destination of Malaysian palm oil from January until July 2023 for the European region with a volume of 295,066 MT. Apart from the Netherlands there was also a marked decline in imports from Italy which fell by t decline of 27% while Spain declined by 28% which can be primarily attributed to a combination of large shipments of biodiesel imports from China, and abundant sunflower, rapeseed, and soybean supplies.

The EU launched an investigation into the EU imports of biodiesel from China on August 17, citing suspected evasion of EU countervailing duties of Indonesian biodiesel via third countries. According to Oil World, an official investigation into this matter will likely result in stricter controls of both the paperwork and the quality of the imported volumes of biodiesel into the EU. This is expected to discourage shipments of wrongly labeled volumes of advanced biodiesel in the coming months, raising demand for domestically produced volumes and feedstock correspondingly.

As for the rest of the EU nations, several nations increased their import of palm oil from Malaysia. Sweden, Belgium, Greece, and Bulgaria showed a promising uptick in imports from Malaysia. The cumulative imports from January to July 2023 of Sweden, Belgium, Greece, and Bulgaria were 74,578 MT, 8,871 MT, 7,284 MT, and 3,854 MT, respectively.

The Malaysian palm oil exports to the United Kingdom experienced a drop of 26%, amounting to 6,786 MT between January to July 2023. However, with the UK’s accession to the CPTPP, it is expected that demand for Malaysian palm oil will be on the rise. The United Kingdom’s accession to the CPTPP is expected to be enforced by the second half of 2024, subject to the UK’s legislative processes.  Malaysia has negotiated with the United Kingdom to eliminate tariffs on Malaysian palm oil from 12% to zero upon entering the trade pact.

The export performance of Malaysian palm oil into the Central Asian region for January – July 2023 was promising with 42,385 MT, an increase of 35%. As with the previous months, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have retained their respective positions as the leading importers of palm oil from Malaysia with 22,453 MT and 12,794 MT, respectively. Uzbekistan has surpassed its import of Malaysian palm oil in 2022, indicating a very strong demand from its industries. Meanwhile, Kazakhstan is on track to match its track record of importing Malaysian palm oil. The rest of the nations in this region, such as Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Moldova were observed to record declines in Malaysian palm oil imports.

Export Performance of Malaysian Palm Oil into the Central Asia Region

Figure 2: Import Trend of Top 4 Malaysian Palm Oil Importers of Eastern Europe and Central Asian Republics for January – July 2023  

Source: MPOB

Authored by:

Hajar Shamsudin & Fazari Radzi