European Union – Certain Measures Concerning
Palm Oil and Oil Palm Crop-based Biofuels
Request to Join Consultations
Communication
from Malaysia
The following communication, dated 23 December
2019, from the delegation of Malaysia to the delegation of the European Union, and
the delegation of Indonesia, is circulated to the Dispute Settlement Body in
accordance with Article 4.11 of the DSU.
_______________
Pursuant to Article 4.11 of the
Understanding on Rules and Procedures Governing the Settlement of Disputes ("DSU"),
the Government of Malaysia hereby requests to join the consultations requested
by Indonesia in DS593 European Union - Certain
measures concerning palm oil and oil palm crop‑based biofuels
(WT/DS593/1, G/L/1348, G/TBT/D/52, G/SCM/D128/1).
2. As the world's second largest producer of palm oil, Malaysia has
a substantial trade interest in its palm oil trade with the EU market:
• On
an average, the EU imported annually between 7-7.4 million tonnes of palm oil
over the past 3 years. According to the Oil World, in 2018, Malaysia accounted
for 27.1% of EU's total palm oil imports, while Indonesia accounted for 46.9%.
• The
EU is the largest market for Malaysian palm oil and palm oil based products in
2018 and accounted for 14.7% of total export of Malaysian palm oil and palm oil
based product. In the same year, Malaysia's export of palm oil and
palm-based products to the EU totalled 3.8 million tonnes, valued at USD2.45
billion.
• Out
of these amounts, Malaysia exported 1,828,880 tonnes of palm oil (Crude Palm
Oil - CPO) valued at USD1.17 billion to the EU. 40% or 731,552 tonnes of
these palm oil (CPO) exports are feedstock for biodiesel and renewable energy.
In addition to the 140,340 tonnes of direct biodiesel exports, the total
exposure to Malaysia would be 871,892 tonnes.
3. The request to participate in the consultations is made without
prejudice to the rights of Malaysia to proceed independently in separate
proceedings.
4. Malaysia looks forward to receiving the EU's favourable reply to
this request and thereafter to be informed of the date and venue of the
consultations to facilitate our participation.