KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 15 — Agri-commodities and agri-commodities product exports jumped 65 per cent to RM105 billion in the second quarter of 2021 from RM64 billion in the same period last year, Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities (MPIC) Datuk Dr Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali said.
He said as of June this year, palm oil-based products which were the biggest contributor with 43 per cent of the total agri-commodities export, increased to RM46 billion compared to RM33 billion in the first six months last year.
However, he said palm oil-based products export quantity declined five per cent 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 today.
Following the encouraging performance, Mohd Khairuddin said he is optimistic that the RM75 billion 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 per cent of the total agri-commodities export recorded a surge of 150 per cent to RM44 billion from RM17.77 billion 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 per cent to RM37 billion from RM12 billion in the same period 2020.
“Rubber gloves that are mainly for medical uses recorded more than threefold growth or 210 per cent,” he said.
On the other hand, Mohd Khairuddin said wood-based products contributed 11 per cent to agri-commodities export, increasing 21 per cent to RM12 billion from RM10 billion in the same period 2020.
He said cocoa-based products export also posted an increase of seven per cent to RM3.4 billion compared with RM3.1 billion previously and pepper-based products export climbed 19.24 per cent to RM62 million from RM52 million in the same period 2020.
“Based on the performance, MPIC is confident that the agri-commodities export will record a growth and higher value compared to 2020,” he added.
