Malaysia in talks with Saudi Arabia to raise palm oil trade to 500,000 tonnes

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is in talks with Saudi Arabia to increase the kingdom's imports of the edible oil to 500,000 tonnes in the near future, state media Bernama reported on Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia, which constitutes 2% of Malaysia's palm oil exports, last year imported more than 300,000 tonnes of Malaysian palm oil valued at 900 million ringgit ($218.08 million).

Malaysia is the world's second-largest palm producer and exporter after Indonesia.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who was on an official four-day visit to the Middle East kingdom, told Bernama the talks which included palm oil and other matters were "very successful".

The two countries have agreed to set up the Saudi-Malaysian Coordination Council to facilitate regular consultations on matters of mutual interests, Bernama said.