KUALA LUMPUR: Agri-commodities and agri-commodities product exports jumped 65% to RM105bil in the second quarter of 2021 from RM64bil in the same period last year, Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities (MPIC) Datuk Dr Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali (pic) said.

       He said as of June this year, palm oil-based products which were the biggest contributor with 43% of the total agri-commodities export, increased to RM46bil compared to RM33bil in the first six months last year.

       However, he said palm oil-based products export quantity declined 5% to 11.5 million tonnes.

       “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.

       Following the encouraging performance, Mohd Khairuddin said he is optimistic that the RM75bil palm oil export target this year could be achieved even though the country is still facing a shortage of workers in oil palm plantations.

       Following the encouraging performance, Mohd Khairuddin said he is optimistic that the RM75bil palm oil export target this year could be achieved even though the country is still facing a shortage of workers in oil palm plantations.

       Meanwhile, he said rubber products that contributed 42% of the total agri-commodities export recorded a surge of 150% to RM44bil from RM17.77bil in the same period last year.

       He said due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the value of latex-based products export such as rubber gloves and others rose 200% to RM37bil from RM12bil in the same period in 2020.

       “Rubber gloves that are mainly for medical uses recorded more than threefold growth or 210%,” he said.

       On the other hand, Mohd Khairuddin said wood-based products contributed 11% to agri-commodities export, increasing 21% to RM12bil from RM10bil in the same period 2020.

       He said cocoa-based products export also posted an increase of 7% to RM3.4bil compared with RM3.1bil previously and pepper-based products export climbed 19.24% to RM62mil from RM52mil in the same period 2020. — Bernama

       “Based on the performance, MPIC is confident that the agri-commodities export will record a growth and higher value compared to 2020,” he added. -- Bernama, agri-commodities, exports, palm oil, rubber, cocoa, pepper