In a statement today, it said among the areas of cooperation was the construction of a tank storage terminal in Jeddah, using Saudi Arabia as a re-export hub for Malaysian palm oil and a joint campaign to promote the benefits of Malaysian palm oil.
This MoU followed a meeting in Jeddah that plantations industry and commodities minister Zuraida Kamaruddin held with Savola Foods board member Abdullah Rehaimi and its chief sourcing officer, strategic sourcing and supply Ghazi J Al-Sulaimani.
Zuraida said the construction of a tank storage terminal in Jeddah would help overcome logistic problems and long waits for shipments.
On using Saudi Arabia as a re-export hub for Malaysian palm oil, Zuraida said this was because the country was ideally located to cater to the regional markets in the Gulf Cooperation Council as well as North Africa region.
“It was agreed that having a palm oil hub in Saudi Arabia will not only enhance the volume of Malaysian palm oil usage in Saudi market significantly but will also enable Malaysian exporters to cater to smaller markets in the region.
“Abdullah (from Savola Foods) added that developing a ‘food hub’ is also in line with Saudi Vision 2030 which aims to provide food security to the entire region,” she said.
She said if the idea is realised, the export potential of Malaysian palm oil to this region could be tripled.
On the joint campaign to promote the benefits of Malaysian palm oil, Zuraida said she gave Savola management a background of the baseless anti-palm oil campaigns spearheaded by the western NGOs, which are purely triggered by protectionist policies.
“The Savola management has fully agreed with this and added that the influence of these anti-palm oil campaigns will reach this region sooner or later and we should develop a strong positive image of palm oil and educate our consumers about its various health benefits.
“These collaborations will not only strengthen our position in the market but also suppress negative assumptions against the industry and help Malaysia maintain its spot as a global market leader in palm oil,” she said.
On the participation of the Malaysian Rubber Council (MRC) in the Arab Health Exhibition in Dubai, Zuraida said participating manufacturers from Malaysia were expecting total sales to hit US$110.46 million (RM464 million).
She added that eight Malaysian companies would be part of the exhibition where participants could discover and source new products and connect with suppliers.
In 2021, Malaysia’s palm oil and palm oil product exports to Saudi Arabia amounted to RM1.71 billion, which is 30.7% higher than 2020.