Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 31): Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok said the Government will save about RM10.7 million per year in subsidies if it adopts the B10 biodiesel programme for the transport industry.

On top of that, the Government may also save about RM1.6 billion per year in diesel import costs, she told the Dewan Rakyat today.

"The Ministry of Primary Industries will present a Memorandum of Ministers in the near future regarding the proposal to increase the blend rate to B10 for the transport sector and B7 for the industrial sector across the country.

"Both of these programmes are expected to use 760,000 tonnes of palm oil annually and will strengthen palm oil prices in the market," Kok told the Dewan Rakyat this morning.

Kok pointed out that the nation's biodiesel programme was introduced in 2011 with a blend rate of B5 (5% palm biodiesel mixed with 95% diesel).

Currently, the diesel blend available at petrol stations nationwide is the B7 while the industrial sector still uses normal diesel.

"If we look at the current rates, the price of diesel for industries is RM2.60 to RM2.80 per liter compared to biodiesel which is at RM2.28 per liter.That means the use of B7 in the industrial sector will provide savings of RM6.5 million a year based on the current price," she added.

The Seputeh MP was answering Kota Kinabalu MP Chan Foong Hin's query on the efforts taken by the Primary Industries Ministry to increase the usage of palm oil in biodiesel.

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