Malaysia Plans to Halt All Expansion of Palm Oil Plantations
- Government may cap area at about 6 million hectares in 2019
- Palm oil growers seek to counter accusations of deforestation
Photographer: Goh Seng Chong/Bloomberg
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Malaysia plans to halt all expansion of oil palm plantations this year as it seeks to dispel the oil’s reputation as a driver of deforestation.
The world’s second-largest producer will cap the area at around 6 million hectares (14.8 million acres), Minister of Primary Industries Teresa Kok said in an interview Friday. That’s up from 5.85 million hectares at the end of last year, which will give some leeway to growers who are in the middle of replanting or who have already bought land, she said.