KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 21 — The agricommodity sector recorded a trade value of RM82 billion for the period from January to June 2020, up 2.7 per cent over the RM79.8 billion for the same period in 2019, says Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities Datuk Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali.
He said the export revenue from agricommodity exports stood at RM63.7 billion or 14.2 per cent of the country’s total export revenue for the period from January to June 2020.
“The value was up 4.4 per cent compared with the RM61.1 billion recorded for the same period in the preceding year, and was due to the rise in the prices of the main agricommodity i.e. average crude palm oil (CPO) prices,” he said in a statement today.
Mohd Khairuddin said palm oil-based products, which accounted for 51.8 per cent of the total agricommodity exports, rose 3.2 per cent to RM33 billion.
However, exports of palm oil-based products declined 12.3 per cent to 12 million metric tonnes, he said.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has affected palm oil exports not only for Malaysia but also for all other palm oil-producing countries. The implementation of the movement control order (MCO) by the government in stages from March 18 to August 31, 2020 has directly affected exports of palm oil and palm-oil based products,” he said.
He also said the 100 per cent export duty exemption from July 1 to December 31, 2020 announced by the government on June 5, 2020 is expected to spur global demand for Malaysia’s palm oil and palm oil-based products.
The five per cent reduction in import duty under the Asean-India Independent Free Trade Agreement (AIFTA) from January 1, 2020 is expected to revitalise Malaysia’s palm oil exports to India.
Exports of rubber and rubber products, which accounted for 27.9 per cent of total agricommodity exports, rose 18.3 per cent to RM17.8 billion for the January to June 2020 period.
“This increase was due to exports of latex-based products especially rubber gloves which jumped 40.3 per cent to RM11.8 billion from RM8.4 billion for the same period in 2019.
“Exports of rubber gloves rose 48 per cent to 563,000 tonnes from 380,000 tonnes for the same period in the preceding year,” he said.
Wood-based products accounted for 15.1 per cent of agricommodity exports. For the period from January to June 2020, the export value stood at RM9.6 billion, down 9.1 per cent from the same period in 2019.
Exports of cocoa products accounted for 4.9 per cent of agricommodity exports, recording a 0.8 per cent increase to RM3.1 billion, while pepper exports declined 20 per cent to RM51.9 million for the January to June 2020 period compared with the same period in 2019.
Exports of agricommodity products to the United States improved 24.9 per cent to RM9.6 billion, with exports to China rising 20 per cent to RM9 billion.
The average CPO price rose 21.8 per cent to RM2,433.50 per tonne from RM1,998.00 per tonne, while the average CPO price on August 21, 2020 improved to RM2,785.50 per tonne.
The average natural rubber (SMR 20) price, meanwhile, went down 13.3 per cent to RM5.15 per kg from RM5.93 per kg. — Bernama
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