DAVAO CITY – Members of the Sarawak Chamber of Commerce linked up with the local business group here to explore opportunities in oil palm industry.
Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCCII) chair Arturo Milan said Malaysian businessmen from Sarawak are interested in opportunities in oil palm in Davao Region and they are slated to visit the region in June.
“That is how attractive Davao City and the Davao Region are over the years under the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte. Their president (Sarawak chamber) will be coming over and they will be bringing a delegation coming from Sarawak and the president was asking me when is the best time to come. They are just waiting for our advice,” Milan said.
It may be recalled that President Duterte was also keen on helping farmers get investors for oil palm in Davao if they, including the lumads, agree. He had said there were investors looking for land to establish a palm oil industry.
Back when he was mayor of Davao City, Duterte was urging farmers in Paquibato to engage in oil palm. He even offered help so New People’s Army (NPA) rebels can link with investors and set aside their firearms. But it never happened because members of the NPA and their supporters campaigned against the entry of investors.
Milan said he once met Malaysian investors who wanted to look at and explore business opportunities in palm oil in Davao City or elsewhere in Mindanao.
“Remember this is the flagship of Kota Kinabalu that uplifted the economy of Kinabalu in Malaysia -- the palm oil business,” he said.
Milan stressed that an oil plantation also needs to put up a processing plant.
“You need to have a processing facility because you have only 24 hours to process after harvest. The plantation should have a mill,” he said.
Milan said the business sector is also pushing for manufacturing or processing plants for raw materials from Mindanao. He cited for example cacao.
“We are happy to see that many local producers are already producing chocolates and that’s a very good indication that we are already processing not only exporting cacao beans,” he said.
For oil palm, Milan said there is still a lot of market for the product.
Aside from exploration activities, the DCCCII and Sarawak chamber will be signing a sisterhood agreement. Milan said the DCCCII is just reviewing the Memorandum of Agreement concerning this matter. (Lilian C. Mellejor/PNA)
