Malaysia, the world's second-largest palm grower plans to raise its biodiesel mandate to 10 percent by October this year, from 7 percent currently, a senior government official said on Monday.
The B10 programme is expected to soak up 1 million tonnes of crude palm oil a year, Malaysia's plantation industries and Commodities minister Douglas Uggah Embas told reporters at a planters conference in Kuala Lumpur.
"The meetings with stakeholders will be completed by end-June," Embas said.
The B10, which mandates a minimum 10 percent of bio content in diesel, may lend support to palm oil prices that are currently at 2,344 ringgit per tonnne.
Sources: Reuters (Reporting by Anuradha Raghu; Editing by Richard Pullin)