The Malaysia Pavilion has placed special emphasis on Malaysia’s sustainable agricommodities at Expo 2020 Dubai. This will be achieved through two trade and business week programmes focussed on the sector as well as its permanent exhibit hall on “Sustainable Agricommodities.”

The food-based Sustainable Agricommodities Week will be held from 6thto 12thFebruary 2022 at the Malaysia Pavilion, led by the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities with its agency,The Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC).

MPOC, as the promotional body for palm oil, will showcase the Malaysian palm oil industry’s sustainable initiatives and management. The programme will include a focus on pepper and cocoa crops and products.

The palm oil industry’s sustainable initiatives and management are vital in ensuring palm oil remains one of the main pillars of the domestic economy in Malaysia, as well as a globally accepted food source. The initiatives include; a mandatory certification scheme, regulatory guidelines, good agricultural practices and the development of cutting-edge technology by the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors of the industry.

The concept of ‘Sustainable Agricommodity’ further provides a strong platform for Malaysia in the global market for palm oil exports. The sector has contributed significantly to providing a continuous inflow of earnings through the export of the raw commodity and valued-added products. In 2020, palm oil exports earned $17.39 billion for Malaysia, a seven per cent increase from to 2019. This also accounted for 26% of the world’s palm oil production and 34% of all exports.

Wan Aishah Wan Hamid, CEO of MPOC commented: “Being the second largest producer of palm oil in the world, this is an important sector for Malaysia. Expo2020 is the perfect platform to create awareness of the benefits and various uses of palm oil, but also the importance of implementing sustainable initiatives. Our programme is designed to reach not only the business sector, but also general consumers and the young.”

MPOC will conduct public awareness activities at the Malaysia Pavilion on the benefits and applications of palm oil and its products. These will include cooking demonstrations, an online contest and a soap-making workshop for children. Pocket talks on topics of interest to industry members and consumers in the Middle East and North Africa region will be scheduled for the trade segment.

Cooking demonstrations

Two cooking demonstration sessions will be held daily to promote the various applications and uses of palm oil and its products. These will feature the use of Malaysian Palm Oil and its products that are available in the UAE, such as palm olein, margarine, shortening and vanaspati.

Red palm oil, which has been hailed as a superfood, will also be promoted to visitors during the sessions.Palm oil is rich in Vitamin E tocotrienols, an important antioxidant. Red palm oil is the richest plant source of carotenoids, which is converted to Vitamin A by the body when consumed.

Online contest

The Malaysian Palm Oil online contest is a quiz open to visitors. A QR code, which links to the contest website (thepalmoil.org), will be displayed in Canopy 2 and at strategic locations within the pavilion.

Ten winners will be selected each month from submissions with all-correct answers. They stand to winiTunes or Google play gift-cards valued at $100 each. The grand prize winner, to be announced at the end of Expo2020, will receive an iPhone 13 Pro.

Soap-making workshop

Soap-making is a simple and fun process, using palm-based semi-finished transparent soap, colour and fragrance. This activity is aimed at school children.This activity is intended to demonstrate one of the key commercial applications of palm oil, and to emphasise the role of palm oil as an ingredient in cleaning products. At the same time, it will encourage children to be more mindful of personal hygiene, in light of measures needed to curb the spread of Covid-19.

Pocket talks

To address the information needs of trade and business communities, MPOC will organise a series of pocket talks. These will take the form of compact information-sharing sessions comprising of presentations by renowned experts. Each session will be followed by an interactive discussion and Q&A segment to increase understanding of the subject.

The topics will cover price and market outlook reports; the role of palm-based bioactive compounds in; health, trade expansion through logistics investments and the use of palm-based ingredients in food formulations. The Malaysian Palm Oil Certification Council will also deliver a pocket talk focused on the palm oil certification scheme implemented in Malaysia.

The talks are aimed at attracting industry players, oil and fat importers and traders, as well as those who wish to learn more about the latest technologies and developments in the palm oil sector.

The Malaysia Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai has scheduled a 26-week thematic trade and business program. The initiative is spearheaded and supported by 21 ministries, 70 agencies and five state governments. The non-food based Sustainable Agricommodities Week will be held from 23rd to 29th January 2022.