Palm oil set to boost share of edible oils mart Published: 2009/06/25 LONDON: Palm oil is well-placed to raise its share of total world oils and fats consumption as it has higher yields than other oilseeds, a long productive life, and is cheap to produce, delegates told a conference yesterday.
Paul Nellens, a member of the executive committee of SIPEF N.V., a palm oil producer, told the Public Ledger's Edible Oils 2009 conference that palm oil output had surged to 43 million tonnes last year from around 2 million tonnes 30 years ago. He said palm oil had increased its share of the consumption of the world's leading 17 oils and fats to 27.5 per cent in 2008/09 from 13.9 per cent in 1990/91, which he attributed to the high yields per hectare of palm oil compared to alternatives. "Palm oil is a strong competitor when compared with other oilseeds," Nellens said. He said yields per hectare of an efficient Indonesian palm oil plantation were six times higher than rapeseed yields in Canada, and noted that palm oil required a lower input of chemicals and fossil fuels than alternative oilseeds. Peter Hadsley-Chaplin, joint managing director of M.P. Evans Group Plc, a palm oil producer, said palm oil could be 10 times more productive than soya oil. Palm oil is a perennial crop with a long productive life of around 25 years that is cheap to produce compared with other oils, he said. The two-day conference ends today.- Reuter
