‘No palm oil’ label battle won’t start trade or court war: Malaysian minister

By Annie Harrison-Dunn

- Last updated on GMT

'No palm oil' labels are unfair, baseless and a deliberate effort to hinder the palm oil industry, says Malaysian minister.
'No palm oil' labels are unfair, baseless and a deliberate effort to hinder the palm oil industry, says Malaysian minister.

Related tags Palm oil International trade

The Malaysian government says it is assessing what action it should take to address ‘no palm oil’ labels in France and Belgium, the legal grounds for which have come under scrutiny.

Some French and Belgian food firms have taken to labelling products ‘no palm oil’ - something that sought to inform consumers who may want to avoid palm oil for environmental or perhaps health reasons. Yet legal experts say this could be in violation of EU law​ and pose a scientifically unjustified barrier to trade.

Meeting with European journalists as part of a week-long press trip around Malaysia organised by the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC), he said these labels were unfair, baseless and a deliberate effort to hinder the palm oil industry.

Yet he said dialogue, not counter trade barriers against EU exports or legal action, would be key in finding a solution for both sides and said they would continue to engage with the French and Belgian government to find a solution.  

sans palm
French supermarket Casino's own brand chocolate nut spread states "sans huile de palme" ('without palm oil'). 

Under the new EU Food Information for Consumers Regulation (FIC) which comes into force next week, all food products must state specifically the source of vegetable oils (i.e. palm, rapeseed, sunflower) on ingredient lists. This in itself would not single out palm from other oils – but Malaysia says ‘no palm oil’ labels went a step too far and insinuated the ingredient was something to be avoided.

Don’t forget – our trade is bilateral  

 “To us the issue is very critical. We have a lot of trade, two-way trade, with France so we hope both governments would understand that any [trade barrier] will not be in the interest of both countries. So we hope [the French government] will assist us to resolve some of those issues,” ​Uggah Embas, who previously held the position of environment minister, said.  

“Our agencies are looking at what the main course of action is. We hope we don’t have to resort to legal action. We hope with dialogue and discussion, more deliberation and understanding of palm oil we will be able to resolve these issues.”

Asked by a French journalist if Malaysia planned to retaliate against these labels by, for example, reducing the amount of Airbus aircraft purchases, the minister laughed off the idea and said he didn’t think it needed to reach this level.

“As much as you [France] are selling your Airbus to us and how this benefits your economy, we hope you also understand how important it is for you to buy our palm oil to help our economy, because if our economy is growing then we have money to buy your Airbus.”

According to the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE), in 2013, Malaysia was the EU’s 29th largest export destination and 20th largest import source.

Malaysia’s total trade with the EU amounted to $43.1bn (€34.78bn) in 2013 - $20.7bn (€16.70bn) in exports from Malaysia to the EU and $22.4bn ($18.07bn) in imports from the EU to Malaysia. The major trading partners within this were Germany (29%), followed by the Netherlands (19.9%), France (13.9%), the UK (10.4%) and Italy (6.7%).

Continuing conversation

The minister was in Europe this week as part of a timber and palm oil promotion mission to the Netherlands – where most of the palm oil passes through - and Belgium. A delegation from the Belgian economic mission also came to Malaysia last month, where he said the label issue would be discussed over dinner.

The outcome of those discussions was unclear, but speaking ahead of the meeting in November the Malaysian minister said this formed part of an ongoing dialogue between itself and France and Belgium.

He said Malaysia had written to and visited the French government​ and that so far the feedback from that was positive.

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3 comments

Only contains Certified Sustainable Palm Oil?

Posted by Di West,

The main concern for consumers is products containing NON sustainable Palm oil. The latest figures showed only 52% of available Certified Sustainable Palm Oil was purchased in 2013 (WWF assessment). Many big companies bought very little CSPO. They say that they use CSPO but actually only purchase Green Palm certificates which means the actual Palm oil in their products could have come from anywhere. Until this is cleared up and all companies use CSPO, many environmentally concerned consumers will select Zero Palm Oil products. That way they know that they are not contributing to the destruction of the environment and the death of wild life, such as orangutans.

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Why palm oil has a problem

Posted by JKazer,

The main reason EU governments are wondering about palm oil is environmental, rather than an attempt to protect our local vegetable oil industry. The perceived and actual risks of large-scale, rapid deforestation and burning of peat soils to plant palm oil plantations are important factors here because of biodiversity and climate change impacts.

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No Palm Oil- Labelling

Posted by A. Haq,

This is very absured. Will France and Belgium also consider labelling "No Soy or Rape Seed Oil". If Palm was grown in Africa or USA will the Frence and Belgium take the same stance? What is their motive? This can have very serious trade relationship between countries.

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