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KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 26 ― The Malaysian Palm Oil Association (MPOA) has dismissed any heavy impact of the European Union’s (EU) ban on local producers, saying there are still other markets available.

Speaking to Malay Mail, MPOA chief executive Datuk Nageeb Wahab said MPOA and its members are instead feeling upbeat over the increased demand for palm oil in the domestic market for both Malaysia and Indonesia.

“The concerns of EU not buying palm oil from Malaysia has all been addressed by the increased of local consumption. We are not unduly worried it as this is a zero-sum game,” he told Malay Mail.

“To put it simply, if they do not want to buy from us, we can supply other markets with our palm oil. Perhaps they will use other vegetable oils as an alternative however they still need our palm oil to supplement other products.

“Moreover, there is always growth in palm oil utilisation in food products which is always in demand as it relates to the needs of a growing population,” he added.

Nageeb said that both countries are engaging in comprehensive national policies, respectively to increased palm oil utilisation in biofuels.

He also expects to see a growth in demand for palm oil to be utilised in food products, among other goods.

In terms of national policies, Nageeb was referring to Indonesia’s B30 mandate where it launched last year, a biodiesel mix which contains 30 per cent of palm-based fuel and Malaysia’s intention of releasing its own mix of B20 biodiesel fuel, reported to be released by this year.

Indonesia’s B30 mandates had led to crude palm oil (CPO) stock levels to plummet where some 10 million tonnes were utilised in their domestic markets and led to CPO prices skyrocketing to over RM3,000 per metric tonne in early January 2020, said Nageeb.

He contrasted this to a year ago, when Malaysia was seeing record levels of CPO inventory in the past two years due to weak demand for palm oil.

According to the statistics by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB), CPO prices were at RM2,037 per metric tonne in January 2019 while CPO stock was at 3 million metric tonnes compared to 2 million metric tonnes in December of 2019.

“Now with Indonesia diverting its supply to meet demand domestically due to the B30 mandate, it has less palm oil to export which also helps Malaysia as it tends to the void in the market,” said Nageeb, stating that credit should and must be given to Indonesia for executing a progressive palm oil policy.

Malaysia produces some 19 million tonne metric of CPO on average annually, while Indonesia produces twice as many, he pointed out.

“For Indonesia, even if they increased 10 per cent of CPO consumption, that’s some four million metric tonnes while Malaysia can only equate to 500,000 metric tonnes. In this case, even if certain economies said they won’t buy from us, that is alright as we can use it ourselves,” he said.

Nageeb is also optimistic that the high price of CPO would maintain for the year as Malaysian Palm oil producers are expecting a shortfall in production this year.

“It’s quite hard to see Malaysia break the 20 million tonnes annual production and it is unlikely it would surpass that for this year as well.

“This is due to the dry spell that the country is facing and the lower use of fertiliser on plantations that led to lower yield. We are expecting a shortfall in production this year or at best, stagnation of production levels.

“With all these factors, I’m optimistic that the prices of the crude palm oil would remain stable for the year and perhaps into next year,” he said.

WUHAN: Angka kematian yang disahkan akibat jangkitan wabak koronavirus meningkat kepada 41 orang, apabila pihak berkuasa China melaporkan 15 kematian terbaru dengan lebih 1,000 orang dijangkiti.

Semua kematian terbaru berlaku di ibu negeri wilayah Wuhan, sebuah bandar raya dengan 11 juta penduduk, di mana jangkitan penafasan yang membunuh itu mula-mula dikesan, kata Suruhanjaya Kesihatan Hubei.

Wuhan dan 13 bandar raya lain di wilayah tersebut dikenakan sekatan keluar-masuk yang tidak pernah berlaku dalam usaha mengawal virus pernafasan berbahaya itu yang tersebar ke seluruh China dan beberapa negara lain.

Suruhanjaya kesihatan itu juga melaporkan 180 kes baru di wilayah berkenaan, dengan 77 kes di Wuhan sementara bakinya tersebar di bandar raya lain yang lebih kecil.

Beberapa bandar raya itu melaporkan kes pertama patogen 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) mereka, kata suruhanjaya tersebut.

Angka itu akan menambah kepada jumlah 830 kes jangkitan yang disahkan di seluruh China, yang dilaporkan dalam kenyataan terakhir kerajaan pusat pada Jumaat.

Virus yang sebelum ini tidak diketahui menimbulkan kebimbangan antarabangsa kerana ia menyerupai SARS (Sindrom Penafasan Akut Teruk) yang mengorbankan beberapa ratus rakyat China dan Hongkong pada 2002-2003.

Ia juga berlaku pada masa paling tidak sesuai bagi China apabila ratusan juta rakyatnya melakukan perjalanan ke seluruh negara atau luar negara bagi menyambut perayaan Tahun Baru Cina.

WASHINGTON: Nearly three dozen US troops suffered traumatic brain injuries or concussion in this month’s Iranian airstrike on a military base in Iraq, the Pentagon said on Friday.

“Thirty-four total members have been diagnosed with concussions and TBI (traumatic brain injury),” Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman told reporters.

President Donald Trump had initially said that no Americans were injured in the strike on the Ain al-Asad base in western Iraq on the night of Jan 7-8 although authorities later reported that 11 troops were injured.

Hoffman said that 17 of the victims had been initially transferred to Germany to receive treatment, eight of whom arrived back in the US on Friday.

“They will continue to receive treatment in the United States, either at Walter Reed (military hospital near Washington) or at their home bases,” he told a press conference at the Pentagon.

The nine other victims who were flown to Germany “are still undergoing evaluation and treatment there”, he added.

Seventeen other troops who were treated in the region have returned to duty in Iraq.

The airbase – one of the largest in Iraq, with 1,500 US troops making up the bulk of a coalition presence directly adjacent to thousands of Iraqi forces – was targeted in retaliation for the US killing of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in a Jan 3 drone strike in Baghdad.

Democratic lawmakers seized on the announcement to accuse Trump of lying about the strike.

“Though he downplays these injuries as ‘headaches’, roughly half of all TBIs require surgery and can lead to lifelong disabilities,” said congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida.

Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed, the Ranking Member of the Armed Services Committee, called TBI “a serious matter”.

“It is not a ‘headache,’ and it’s plain wrong for President Trump to diminish their wounds. … He owes them an apology,” Reed said.

At a rally in New Hampshire, Joe Biden, a frontrunner to challenge Trump in this year’s election, said the president “brushed off” the troops’ injuries.

“I find it, quite frankly, disgusting,” Biden, a former vice president, said.

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 25 — The police detained a local man allegedly for avoiding customs duties and seized various types of fire crackers and liquor worth over RM300,000 in separate raids in Johor, on Tuesday.

Bukit Aman Internal Security and Public Order Department director Datuk Seri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani said the first raid was conducted by the Region 2 Marine Police Force at a house in Skudai and found numerous fire crackers and 93 boxes of liquor.

‘‘Following questionings of the man, the second raid was carried out at a house in Nusajaya. Police found 57 boxes containing numerous alcoholic drinks which were believed to have evaded customs taxes,’’ he said in a statement yesterday.

He said the suspect and all the items seized were handed to the Johor Bahru Utara district police headquarters (IPD) CID for further investigation and the case was investigated under Section 135(1)(d) of the Customs Act 1967 and Section 8 of the Explosives Act 1957.

In another development, Acryl Sani said the Northern Brigade of the General Operations Force (PGA) seized eight white plastic gunny sacks suspected to contain kratom leaves weighing 240 kilogrammes estimated to be worth RM36,000 during a patrol.

‘‘The PGA personnel stumbled across a group of men who were carrying the sacks in a suspicious manner.

‘‘The men fled on motorcycles towards a nearby plantation when the personnel approached them,’’ he said, adding that all the items seized were handed to the Padang Besar IPD, Perlis for further action and the case was investigated under Section 30(3) Poisons Act 1952. — Bernama

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 25 — Police detained a man and seized wildlife organs and agarwood worth RM1.1 million in a raid on a house in Miri, Sarawak on Thursday.

Bukit Aman Internal Security and Public Order Department director Datuk Seri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani said the raid was conducted by the 12th Battlion of the Miri General Operations Force (PGA).

He said the house was believed to have been used as a temporary store before the wildlife organs were marketed overseas.

“During the raid, police found various grades and sizes of agarwood, five deer heads with antlers, 19 deer antler pieces, two preserved monitor lizards and two tortoises.

“All the seized organs have been handed over to the Miri branch of the Sarawak Forestry Corporation for further action, and the case is being investigated under Section 29 of the Sarawak Wildlife Protection Ordinance 1998,” he said in a statement here yesterday. — Bernama