Why call for removal of oil palm seed export ban?

Malaysia can be the the world's largest supplier of germinated oil palm seeds, provided that the government drops its existing gazette that bans the export of the commodity.

The government, since the 1970s, prohibits the export of oil palm seeds to ensure enough supply for local farmers as well as protect the seeds' intellectual property rights from being copied by other oil palm producers. Malaysia, however, does supply oil palm seeds to Malaysian companies overseas as well as to Honduras, Colombia, Sierra Leone, Thailand and Indonesia on a government-to-government basis.

"Malaysia, in total, produce 80 million oil palm seeds, of which 50 million are supplied to local planters while the remaining 30 million can be sold to other customers. "We have received a lot of enquiries from overseas customers and hope that the government will lift this gazette,"

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