KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) today condemns the vote in the French National Assembly that imposes a discriminatory tax on palm oil produced in the developing world.
“The tax has been passed in a vote of MPs in the National Assembly, despite having no economic or environmental credibility,” it said in a statement.
The tax was passed as part of the Biodiversity Bill, after Socialists MPs proposed a new 90EUR per tonne tax on palm oil. This follows an attempt in January by the French Senate to place a 300EUR tax on palm oil.
MPOC said a report from French Professor Pierre Garello, which it had commissioned, highlighted that the MPs’ economic calculations were misleading and wrong.
The leading European oils industry body, FEDIOL, also called the tax discriminatory and said it should be rejected.
MPOC chief executive officer Tan Sri Dr Yusof Basiron, issued the following statement:
“The vote in the National Assembly runs counter to all evidence, and instead supports a protectionist, partisan agenda that discriminates against palm oil from the developing world.
“The ‘differential’ tax proposal is a clear violation of both WTO and EU rules. The 90EUR tax is both discriminatory and disproportionate. The economic arguments put forward by MPs have been clearly shown to be false. The environmental arguments put forward by green activists have been clearly shown to be false. It is extremely disappointing that French MPs have chosen protectionism over evidence-based policy.
“MPOC calls on French President Francois Hollande, and Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault to stop this tax. M. Ayrault promised to the people of Malaysia in 2013 that he would not tax palm oil. He promised to the 300,000 small farmers in Malaysia that France would not harm them with a new tax. We expect this promise to be kept.”