KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 22): As part of the ongoing Love MY Palm Oil campaign, the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI), Malaysian Palm Oil Council and Berjaya Corp Bhd have teamed up to boost palm oil awareness in the country.

In a statement today, Berjaya’s chairman Tan Sri Vincent Tan said there were many unexploited opportunities in the nation’s commodities sector, adding that the company was actively looking into various locally grown and available supply chains to be added to its list of successful consumer platforms.

In the same statement, MPI Minister Teresa Kok Suh Sim said the ministry is currently spearheading research on several downstream applications for the commodities.

Many products have been formulated and packaged to international standards and were getting international attention, but the products’ ability to expand into major markets were limited due to the lack of business experience and supply chain management.

“In this matter, Berjaya Corp’s long-term expertise and experience, as demonstrated by their successful management of leading brands such as 7-Eleven, Starbucks and Kenny Rogers, can come in handy,” said Kok.

On Monday, the company, together with the Malaysian Association of Hotels, had organised the Commodities Exhibition and Business Matching Session at the Berjaya Times Square Hotel Kuala Lumpur.

The event showcased a number of Malaysian commodities such as palm oil, cocoa and pepper, which had been successfully incorporated into various food and non-food formulations, some of which had gained attention in international markets, including Japan.