Malaysia anticipates increasing its palm oil exports to the Philippines this year due to expected tighter supply from Indonesia, according to an industry group.
‘I’m expecting exports to the Philippines to increase,’ Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) CEO Belvinder Sron said on Wednesday. ‘We probably exported more than 700,000 [metric] tons. We are definitely looking at sustaining that market.’
Sron said the archipelago will see increased palm oil shipments primarily due to limited supplies from Indonesia. Indonesia has boosted its domestic consumption after increasing its biodiesel blend to 50 percent oil-based fuel starting in July this year.
‘A lot of palm is being used domestically in the Indonesian market. There’s going to be less supply out there, so the country that will be able to provide sufficient supply for export markets will be Malaysia,’ Sron said on the sidelines of the Malaysian Palm Oil Forum.
‘We are in a position where we still have a lot of quantity or a lot of supply available for our markets there,’ she told Filipino journalists.
Sron predicts that Indonesia will use 17 million MT of palm oil for biodiesel, which will reduce the volume available for export to various importing countries.
Meanwhile, Malaysia is targeting at least 16 million MT in palm oil exports this year, up 5.3 percent from the actual shipment of 15.2 million MT in 2025as improved production bolsters its supply despite no increase in the total area planted with palm oil.
Sron said the El Niño phenomenon won’t immediately affect Malaysia’s palm oil production, adding, ‘We are only going to see that effect probably in 2027. At the moment, production has been good. We are in the peak production month.’
‘Even production is going to be good in this country. Production is not a problem here because the yields are improving. Our land area has not increased, but we are focusing on yields,’ she added.
Regionally, Sron said palm oil shipments across Southeast Asia will rise, noting that the ASEAN markets are performing very well.