Malaysia wants cut in Customs duty on palm oil
You think Malaysia is a small country compared to India but according to Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, Malaysia ranks as the 23rd largest overall investor and the second largest investor from ASEAN with a total foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow 142.98 million dollars during the period August 1991 to July 2007. India's exports to Malaysia during 2006 - 07 stood at 1.3 billion dollars and imports from Malaysia stood at 5.3 billion dollar. A recently concluded Joint Study has indicated that the two countries could catapult bilateral trade to 16 billion dollars by 2012.
India imports about three million tons of palm oil and its variants annually, mainly from Malaysia and Indonesia. Malaysia accounts for roughly half of the world's total palm oil output of around 28 million tons.
Rafidah Aziz, Malaysia's Minister of International Trade wants India to cut customs duty on import of palm oil.