KUALA LUMPUR – Agri-commodities and agri-commodities product exports jumped 65% to RM105 billion in the second quarter this year from RM64 billion in the same period last year, Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali said.
He said as of June, palm oil-based products, which were the biggest contributor at 43% of total agri-commodities exports, increased to RM46 billion compared with RM33 billion in the first six months of last year.
However, he said, the quantity of palm oil-based product exports declined 5% to 11.5 million tonnes.
“The Covid-19 pandemic continuously impacted palm oil production and exports not only in Malaysia, but also other global palm oil-producing countries.
“The implementation of the movement control order by the government up to the National Recovery Programme on a scheduled basis over the past six months has directly impacted the export of palm oil and agri-commodity-based products,” he said in a statement today.
Following the encouraging performance, Khairuddin said he is optimistic that the RM75 billion palm oil export target this year can be achieved even though the country is still facing a shortage of workers in oil palm plantations.
Meanwhile, he said rubber products, which contributed 42% of total agri-commodities exports, recorded a surge of 150% to RM44 billion from RM17.77 billion in the same period last year.
He said due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the value of latex-based product exports, such as rubber gloves and others, rose 200% to RM37 billion from RM12 billion in the same period in 2020.
“Rubber gloves that are mainly for medical uses recorded more than a threefold growth, or 210%,” he said.
Khairuddin said wood-based products contributed 11% to total agri-commodities exports, increasing 21% to RM12 billion from RM10 billion in the same period in 2020.
He said cocoa-based product exports also posted an increase of 7% to RM3.4 billion compared with RM3.1 billion previously, and pepper-based product exports climbed 19.24% to RM62 million from RM52 million in the same period in 2020.
“Based on the performance, the ministry is confident that agri-commodities exports will record a growth and higher value compared with 2020,” he added. – Bernama, August 15, 2021
