Malaysia is actively anticipating the European Union Deforestation-free Regulation (EUDR) on especially coffee and palm oil exports after a year’s moratorium.
On August 26, 2025, the Ministry of Commodities tightened contingency plans to make mainstream industries responsible enough.
The aim is to claim the ‘low risk’ status on the December 30, 2025 deadline and enjoy moderate export inspections.
Malaysia’s current ‘standard risk’ status underlines inspections on 3% of its cocoa, soy, beef, coffee and palm exports under the EUDR.
The ‘high risk’ category on the other hand attracts the toughest inspections -and currently comprises Russia, North Korea and Burma.
Deforestation Targets
Malaysia is especially keen on the timber, oil palm and coffee sectors. The first two crops apparently contributed 41.6% and 15.5% local deforestation shares, respectively, in the 2017-21 period.
Oil palms occupy about 5.6 million hectares of land across the peninsula, especially in forested Sabah and Surawak states.
Coffee in its part is ironically experiencing an acreage downturn from 7,500 hectares in 2007 to 2,229 hectares in 2021.
In spite of low cultivation, deforestation still hounds coffee because of frequent global shortages that spur land expansion in key origins.
Coffee drives 6% of all deforestation traceable to the EU’s agricultural imports, according to an EUDR factsheet.
Southeast Asia, inclusive of Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam, represents 27% of the EU’s coffee imports, as of 2022.
Hence, will Malaysia this time round make the low risk category after the 1-year grace period ends in December 2025? And will coffee and palm oil escape the net by meeting deforestation-free statuses? The below statistics look at the current profiles of both crops from an acreage or deforestation angle.
Malaysia Coffee and Palm Oil Deforestation Statistics
The Malay Peninsula and the Indonesia archipelago constitute 80% of southeast Asia’s forestland. Out of this, Malaysia deforested some 349,244 hectares in the 2017-21 period, according to a RimbaWatch report of 2023. The agency furthermore indicates that clearing land for timber, coffee, cocoa and oil palm cultivation could claim 2.3 million hectares more. Some of the biggest culprits of deforestation in the 2017-21 period were timber (41.6%) and oil palms (15.5%).
Does coffee occupy much area in the Malay Peninsula?
Coffee is a relatively lucrative export for Malaysia, and although the plantation area is low, it remains prey to deforestation. In 2007, the crop occupied 7,500 hectares, which then plummeted to 5,140 hectares (ha) in plantings, according to ASEAN Coffee. By 2021, acreage had turned into a fraction of the 2007 highs, at only 2,229 ha. Two areas control 89.7% of the national coffee area, namely Sabah with 46.7% and Johore with 43%. Small-scale farmers contribute around 99.4% of total production in the country.
How large is the oil palm area in Malaysia?
The government of Malaysia puts the 2024 oil palm area in the country at 5,612,852 ha. 90.2% of this cultivated swathe or 5,066,524 ha had mature trees while 9.7% or 546,327 ha had immature trees. The government’s agencies owned or leased at least 6% of the total oil palm area in 2024.
Which states constitute Malaysia’s most oil palm acreage?
The leading states with most oil palm acreage in 2024 are as follows, per the MPOB (government):
| State | Area in Ha /percentage share of national area] |
| Sarawak | 1,624,366 [28.9%] |
| Sabah | 1,483,699 [26.4%] |
| Pahang | 739,427 [13.2%] |
| Johor | 659,820 (11.8%) |
| Perak | 351,427 [6.3%] |