prime minister Mahathir Mohammed said on tuesday, but indicated he would continue to speak out against "wrong things" even if it costs his country financially. Accordingly india, the world's biggest buyer of edible oils, last week changed rules that traders say effectively ban imports of refined palm oil from malaysia, the world's second-biggest producer and exporter of palm oil after Indonesia.
Furthermore the move came after New delhi objected to Mahathir's criticism of India's new religion-based citizenship law. Further the 94 year old premier, whose outspoken nature has soured ties with both india and saudi arabia in recent months, earlier accused india of invading the disputed Muslim-majority region of Kashmir. Perhaps as Malaysian palm refiners stare at a massive loss of business, Mahathir said his government would find a solution.
indian traders says "We are concerned of course because we sell a lot of palm oil to india, but on the other hand we need to be frank and see that if something goes wrong, we will have to say it". "If we allow things to go wrong and think only about the money involved, then I think a lot of wrong things will be done, by us and by other people." india was Malaysia's biggest buyer of palm oil in 2019, with 4.4 million tonnes of purchases. In 2020, purchases could fall below 1 million tonnes if relations don't improve. Apparently to make up for the potential loss, Malaysian officials say they are trying to sell more to pakistan, the philippines, Myanmar, vietnam, ethiopia, saudi arabia, egypt, algeria and Jordan.
