REVIEW ARTICLE

Journal of Oil Palm Research Vol. 35 (2) June 2023, p. 193-216

OIL PALM ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE IN MALAYSIA AND R&D PROGRESS IN 2022

GHULAM KADIR AHMAD PARVEEZ1 *; OMAR ABD RASID1 ; MOHD NAJIB AHMAD1 ; HUMAIRA MAT TAIB1 ; MOHD AZWAN MOHD BAKRI1 ; SITTI RAHMA ABDUL HAFID1 ; TUAN NOOR MAZNEE TUAN ISMAIL1 ; SOH KHEANG LOH1 ; MEILINA ONG ABDULLAH1 ; KALSOM ZAKARIA1 and ZAINAB IDRIS1

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21894/jopr.2023.0028
Received: 26 May 2023   Accepted: 24 June 2023   Published Online: 28 June 2023
ABSTRACT

The oil palm industry saw a marginal improvement in crude palm oil production in 2022 from 18.12 (2021) to 18.45 million tonnes and overall export volume by 1.8% to 24.72 million tonnes. Export value reached a new record high of RM137.89 billion due to extraordinary hike in palm oil prices. Despite this, upstream efforts remained technologically-driven in maximising oil yield per hectare, managing nutrient cycle, soil fertility, pests and diseases and ecological services. Particularly, planting materials were improved by widening the oil palm gene pool. The unrelenting labour shortage issue intensified adoption of sensorand vision-based mechanisation technologies for fruit bunches harvesting. In the biomass and bioenergy context, synergistically interfacing supply chains to address logistic issues was key to broader adoption. Integrating engineered nanomaterial, diversely-orientated carbon layering and specialty chemicals from biowastes/byproducts into current palm oil processing not only could ensure that the industry continues to play an important role in the global value chain for food, feed, fibre, fuel and chemicals but also portray multiple industrial symbiosis approaches. Similarly, intensifying businesses and performance of oleo-based industries, such as bio-lubricants, and nutritional research for quality and contamination monitoring, are prioritised in the interest of achieving circular economy.

KEYWORDS:


¹ Malaysian Palm Oil Board,
6 Persiaran Institusi, Bandar Baru Bangi,
43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia.

* Corresponding author e-mail: parveez@mpob.gov.my