India has emerged as Malaysia’s largest importer of germinated oil palm seeds, with demand surging as the nation accelerates efforts to spice up home palm oil manufacturing and cut back import dependency.
India imported 3.03 million tonnes of palm oil from Malaysia in 2024, representing 17.9% of Malaysia’s complete palm oil exports and making it the highest vacation spot for Malaysian palm oil.
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“There has been a noticeable increase in demand for Malaysian oil palm seeds, particularly from India,” Malaysian Palm Oil Board Director General Ahmad Parveez Ghulam Kadir advised PTI, citing India’s push to broaden home manufacturing.
India goals to quickly broaden palm oil cultivation to 1 million hectares by 2025-26 and obtain almost 2.8 million tonnes of crude palm oil manufacturing by 2029-30 below its National Mission on Edible Oils-Oil Palm scheme.
The nation presently has about 3,70,000 hectares below palm oil cultivation as of mid-2025, focussing significantly on northeastern States and island areas.
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“The seed trade, however, remains largely informal, with supplies conducted on an ad hoc basis through one-off consignments without formal contracts or long-term agreements,” Mr. Kadir famous.
Most transactions occur by business-to-business preparations the place Malaysian exporters present high quality planting supplies and technical experience.
“Malaysia welcomes this development as it reflects confidence in the quality of our seeds and our longstanding partnership with India,” he stated. The growth comes even as Malaysia’s palm oil exports to India have moderated following New Delhi’s current discount in tariffs on crude palm oil.
Mr. Kadir stated India’s tariff changes are half of broader coverage measures to handle home provide and hold cooking oil costs inexpensive for customers. “While Malaysia has seen some moderation in export volumes to India, we remain a key and reliable supplier, and the Indian market continues to be a priority,” he stated.
Malaysia is partaking stakeholders to strengthen its place in meals manufacturing and hospitality segments the place demand stays sturdy, whereas selling sustainable palm oil licensed below the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil normal.
The Malaysian Palm Oil Board has developed new high-yield varieties by breeding programmes that may doubtlessly produce greater than 30 tonnes of contemporary fruit bunches per hectare yearly, almost double Malaysia’s nationwide common of 15.47-16.73 tonnes recorded between 2020-2023.
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The improved varieties even have slower top progress, extending financial lifespan from 25 years to greater than 30 years whereas facilitating harvesting operations.
“Current Malaysian commercial seeds are suitable for cultivation in India with proper farming practices and adequate irrigation,” Mr. Kadir stated, noting the supplies have carried out properly below tropical situations just like many Indian areas with adequate rainfall.
“Research efforts are under way to develop climate-resilient varieties with improved drought tolerance, though none have been commercially released yet,” he added.
