Palm oil producing countries to send ministerial mission to lobby EU

JAKARTA: The Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries (CPOPC), a palm oil board led by Indonesia and Malaysia, plans to send a ministerial mission to the European Union to challenge its proposed directive restricting the use of the edible oil.

"We will go to the EU to voice our concerns and objections over the way the proposed regulation has singled out palm oil," Teresa Kok, Malaysia's primary industries minister, said on Thursday.

Indonesia's economic affairs minister, Darmin Nasution, and a representative from Colombia would join the delegation to express their concerns over the EU's renewable energy directive -  known as RED II - aimed at curbing the use of crops blamed for deforestation, Kok said.