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

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 sensor-and 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.