KL and Vietnam mull palm oil, rice barter

KL and Vietnam mull palm oil, rice barter

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia and Vietnam may step up bilateral trade by bartering palm oil for rice, a junior minister said Wednesday.

Deputy Primary Industries minister Anifah Aman was quoted by Bernama news agency as saying that under the counter trade scheme Malaysia would buy rice from Vietnam in exchange for palm oil or other commodities.

"The sale of palm oil will help promote the primary commodity and also reduce the stock," he said.

Malaysia is struggling to ease domestic palm oil stocks, which reached a record high of 1.52 million tons in November because of poor exports and stiff competition from Indonesia.

Malaysia is the world's largest producer of palm oil followed by Indonesia.

Anifah said besides palm oil, Malaysia could export rubber.

"This is a positive development and hope we can conclude an agreement in due time," he said, in reference to the barter trade.

The Vietnamese delegation was led by his counterpart Mai Van Dau.