Malaysia Tries To Placate Angry India; Plans To Import More Sugar To Resolve Palm Oil Row

Malaysia’s top sugar refiner is going to increase sugar purchases from India. The move, as per a MoneyControl report attributing sources, is among various efforts to pacify the Indian government after it put import restrictions on Malaysian palm oil.

MSM Malaysia Holdings Berhad is planning to buy 1,30,000 tonne raw sugar form India in the first quarter of 2020, according to what the company told news agency Reuters. It had purchased about 88,000 tonnes of the commodity from India last year.

However, the company did not mention about the dispute between the two nations that has resulted in decreased imports of Malaysian palm oil to India.

India, which announced curbs on Malaysian palm oil imports on 8 January, is now increasing the import of palm oil from Indonesia to meet its domestic demand.

The Indian government’s decision to curb palm oil imports has sent benchmark Malaysian palm futures to their worst weekly fall in more than 11 years on Friday (18 January) as India has been the largest market for the Malaysian palm oil exporters for last five years.

The move has been seen as a retaliatory one as Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohammad over the past few months has criticised India for what New Delhi had called its internal matters including scrapping the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and citizenship amendment act.