8/2/2002 (Business Times) - THE soyabean producers took on the palm oilindustry a while back, and there was nothing gentlemanly about thecampaign too, the sole objective being to defend its share of the globaledible oils market.It was a bruising battle but palm oil ultimately triumphed as claims bythe soyabean lobby that the commodity of which Malaysia is the biggestproducer was unhealthy quickly proved to the contrary.Indeed the smear tactics backfired and palm oil became even more popularamong the world’s increasingly health-conscious consumers, ironicallythanks in part to the publicity generated.This was in the late-1980s. Now it looks like a new challenger is climbinginto the ring; not quite a heavyweight like soyabean, but one which couldnevertheless still put palm oil to the test.It has emerged that the tallow industry, a relatively minor player in theglobal edible oils and fats trade, is leading the fresh attack.Tallow is mostly produced from the suet of sheep or cattle, and containsstearin, palmitin and olein that can be used to make candles and soap.According to Malaysian Palm Oil Promotion Council market promotionsdirector Dr Ahmad Ibrahim, the council had been alerted to a disturbingincident at a recent oleochemical conference in Amsterdam.A speaker who represents an Australian oleochemical company toldparticipants that oil palm cultivation was destroying the environment.In the presentation, it was claimed that the activity was bad news for theenvironment because of the excessive use of fertilisers, pesticides andherbicides which contributes to loss of biodiversity.The speaker also alleged that massive regions of rainforests had beencleared in Indonesia to plant oil palm.In truth, of all the edible oils crops, studies have shown that oil palmcultivation poses the least threat to the environment, Ahmad said.For one thing, it is a crop which depends very little on inorganicfertilisers and herbicides compared to its rivals, he said in his columnfor Business Times.In addition, Malaysia has progressive plantation companies, with GoldenHope, forexample, having even won the prestigious UN Global 500 award forthe zero-burning technique it introduced to the industry, Ahmad said.The fact is the tallow industry has been feeling the impact of a falloutfrom the mad cow disease epidemic in Europe, which conversely benefitedthe palm oil industry.The mad cow disease scare has prompted the European Union to ban animalfeed derived from animal fats, and that includes tallow.“The EU’s import of palm stearin rose almost immediately after therestriction was put in place.”It looks like the desperate effort to smear palm oil is the direct resultof that, and given consumers’ growing concern over the environment, thethreat of rainforest and biodiversity degradation is a convenient tack, hesaid.Animal fats were already experiencing a downtrend in trade and consumptionbefore now, largely on account of their negative nutritional value, butalso because of religious taboos, Ahmad noted.Today, very little of the world tallow output is eaten, mostly being usedto make soap or processed into oleochemicals and their derivatives, headded.World production of tallow now total just above 8 million tonnes a year,compared to palm oil’s well 20 million tonnes.Malaysia alone produces over 11 million tonnes of palm oil annually.The US is the main source of the world’s tallow, accounting for close to48 per cent.The EU is a distant second with under 13 per cent.Australia, with a 6 per cent share, is however the biggest exporter of thecommodity after the US. In 2000, the US exported slightly more than 1million tonnes, and Australia about half that, which makes the latter theworld leader in the sector in terms of export per unit production.