Malaysia seeks bigger share in Philippines palm oil market

KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s palm oil industry is looking to diversify its product offerings in the Philippines as it seeks to expand beyond traditional palm oil use by tapping opportunities in other sectors.

The Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC), an industry organization representing the palm oil sector, said there is still significant room to increase its market share in the Philippines’ palm oil consumption through industries, such as the oleochemicals, health and industrial sectors.

“There’s still a lot of potential to expand the usage of palm oil, and this is something that the MPOC has been focusing on,” the council’s CEO Belvinder Sron told reporters here.

She said that the palm oil industry could further increase its market share in the Philippines’ oleochemicals sector through the expansion in the use of detergents and soaps.

Palm-derived tocotrienols, an antioxidant-rich compound, could offer another avenue for expansion of Malaysian palm oil in the Philippine market, she added.

“People are not aware about the benefits of palm oil. There are a lot of benefits of palm tocotrienols for health,” Sron said.

She also pushed for the use of carotene-rich red palm oil as another promising product for food manufacturers.

Food manufacturing sectors have been increasingly using carotene from red palm oil and utilizing it for food products as a natural alternative to artificial colorant.

“Countries are becoming very strict about the use of artificial colorants. Instead, there is  an oil-based colorant that is very natural and can be used in food products,” she said.

Malaysia is the Philippines’ major source of palm oil and palm oil products, accounting for more than half of all shipments. These are typically used for household use as cooking oil, food processing and industrial application.

The country imported more than 722,507 metric tons of palm oil from Malaysia last year, followed by oleochemical products and palm kernel oil at 63,418 MT and 18,044 MT, respectively.