By Neville Timothy Sanders and Jacinta Jolene
PADAWAN: Palm oil prices may have gone down of late but Deputy Minister of Plantation and Commodities Datuk Willie Mongin feels this will not be the case for long.
“Part of the reasons why this happened is because Indonesia has allowed the export of palm oil to other countries and also the dumping of crude palm oil in the market.
“Also few other factors including logistical issues and the foreign currency issue,” he said, adding fluctuation of prices is not uncommon in the agro commodity sector.
“So the cycle is currently going down, and definitely it is a domino effect but what goes down, I believe, must go up,” he said during a press conference after receiving a courtesy visit from Deputy High Commissioner of Singapore Shivakumar Nair and First Secretary (Political), Ying Xin Tian to his Puncak Borneo Service Centre on Tuesday (July 12).
Willie said oil palm growers must however not turn their backs to cultivating oil palm.
“I truly believe the price will rise in the near future and it will be a loss to them if they do so,” he added.
On the issue of palm oil being sold to Kalimantan, Indonesia, he urged if this is true, the public can file a complaint to his Ministry which will act because this could threaten the cultivation of oil palm in Sarawak.
He also pointed out that for farmers from Kalimantan to sell their palm oil in the state, they must have a licence to do so.
“If such a situation happens here, please let us know about it. We will take action but I need to first investigate if it is true,” said Willie.
