The Malaysian palm oil council acknowledged that Kenya is a major importer of Malaysia Palm Oil in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) during an East African summit held on Tuesday, 4th 2023. According to the council, Kenya imported $1.26 billion (Kes 177 billion) worth of palm oil, positioning the country as the 9th largest importer of palm oil in the world. The council denoted that Malaysia is looking forward to enhancing integration with the East African region, more so Kenya in order to boost its palm oil exports in the region. The forum promised a unique opportunity for buyers in the sector to interact directly with Malaysian palm oil suppliers and to foster relationships which will foresee increased business opportunities for all stakeholders in the sector.
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The Malaysian deputy prime minister, Haji Yusof, spoke of the importance of the Malaysia-Kenya trade relationship, observing that Kenya provides a significant market for Malaysian palm oil in the East Africa region. “Today’s event underscores the importance of Kenya as a trade partner. Kenya holds immense significance in the palm oil industry as demonstrated by statistics as the fifth largest destination for our nation’s palm oil export with a volume exceeding 763,000 metric tons in 2022,” said Haji Yusof.
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In attendance was one of the key sector stakeholders, Vimal Shah, the CEO of BIDCO Oil Kenya, who called out to the Kenyan government to keep the excise duty in the sector favourable in order to enhance more production and ease the importation costs at a time when the prices of palm oil have skyrocketed globally. Kenya’s import of Malaysian palm oil also represents 26.4% of the total Malaysian palm oil volume exported to the Sub-Saharan Africa region, driven by the increase in demand for Crude palm oil (CPO), crude palm olein (CPL), and cooking oil, which are the main palm oil products demanded in the SSA region, hence providing a ready market for the Malaysian palm oil sellers.
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