Malaysia is too small a nation to respond to India's boycott of palm oil with trade retaliation, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad revealed on Monday. "We are too small to take retaliatory action. We have to find ways and means to overcome that," Mahathir told reporters in Langkawi, a resort island off the western coast of Malaysia. India the world's largest edible oil buyer, this month halted Malaysian palm oil imports after Mahathir's comments criticising New Delhi over its policy on Kashmir.
The 94-year old again criticised India's citizenship law on Monday, saying he believed it was grossly unfair. India has been Malaysia's largest palm oil market for the last five years, presenting the Southeast Asian country with a major challenge in finding new buyers for its palm oil. Benchmark Malaysian palm futures fell nearly 10% last week, their biggest weekly decline in more than 11 years.