Sabah’s biomass grossly underutilised: Shafie
Published on: Tuesday, October 15, 2019
By: Sherell Jeffrey
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah’s biomass is grossly underutilised and industry players don’t seem to be very enthusiastic despite the State having what it takes for them to take full advantage of the situation, from raw materials, infrastructure and government support, according to Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal.
To address this, oil palm players in the State have been implored to help Sabah’s industrialisation effort by seizing value-adding opportunities with biomass.
ADVERTISEMENT
Sabah produces 60 million tonnes of biomass from her oil palm industry and 1.4 million cubic metres from forestry all of which can be used for processing into value-added products.
Bio-chemicals that could be derived from biomass is a multi-billion ringgit industry and are in demand in a cross-section of industrial applications, according to Shafie.
“The studies are encouraging. The numbers are impressive. The market is enormous. The technologies are all there ready for commercialisation,” he said, urging industry players not to wait for any longer to seize these opportunities.
He said this at the opening of the one-day Sabah International Biomass Forum, here, Monday.
ADVERTISEMENT
His speech was read by his Deputy cum Minister of Trade and Industry, Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau.
Shafie said the State Government is committed to achieving industrialised status by 2030, and wants biomass value-adding to contribute to the success.
ADVERTISEMENT
He stressed the importance of maximising resources by alluding to the concept of a circular economy.
He believes that the principles of the circular economy will help oil palm players stay abreast, if not ahead, of the numerous sustainability criteria imposed by palm oil importing.
“Resource optimisation is vital for competitiveness, therefore the use of biomass for energy, feed, fuels and chemicals is the way to do,” he said.
He said to remain competitive and profitable, oil palm players have to look beyond just the oil, to make full use of their biomass and turn waste to wealth.
“There is a lot of money to be made in biomass. But then if you look at the biomass landscape in Sabah, or Malaysia as whole, there is still much room for improvement,” he said.
He said oil palm biomass downstream industries employ only about 5,300 people, which is barely a fraction of the 60,000 jobs envisaged by the National Biomass Strategy 2020.
“But think about this, we can add about 39,000 more if we begin our journey into pellets, biofuels and bio chemicals.
“We in Sabah want to be an industrialised state by 2030. I am asking oil palm players and investors, what can we the government do to convince you to take the plunge,” he said.
Sabah contributes to about a quarter of Malaysia’s palm oil production with more than 1.55 million hectares of oil palm.
According to the National Biomass Strategy, launched in 2011, Malaysia’s biomass is capable of generating a progressive gross national income of RM30 billion by 2020, and creating 60,000 jobs.
The National Biomass Strategy also identified Sabah as the national hub for second generation biofuel.
The forum was jointly organised by Agensi Inovasi Malaysia which is a unit under the Prime Minister’s Department tasked with implementing the National Biomass Strategy, and state-owned POIC Sabah Sdn Bhd.
It was attended by some 100 people including oil palm industrialists, industrial experts, researchers and bankers.
It saw panel discussions on a variety of related topics from the creation of a circular economy, financing needs of new biomass investments and challenges in biomass amalgamation.
Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
Daily Express Malaysia
Agensi Inovasi Malaysia Chief Executive Officer, Naser Jaafar, wound up the day with a session on ‘Financing for biomass industry players’ which, among other things, touched on the unwillingness of the conventional financing industry to support new businesses based on biomass.