07/03/2012 (The Star) - The palm oil industry has tremendous business opportunities to meet the needs of the rising global population.

United Plantations Bhd vice-chairman and executive director Datuk Carl Bek-Nielsen said that according to the World Bank, the number of people who consume oils and fats would grow to 1.2 billion by 2030.

“It is expected that 45 out of every 100 additional calories in the period up to 2030 may come from oil crops. During the last 10 years, consumption of oils and fats has increased by 10 million tonnes,” he said in his keynote paper at the Palm & Lauric Oils Conference & Exhibition Price Outlook 2012.

 
Bek-Nielsen: ‘During the last 10 years,
consumption of oils and fats has increased
by 10 million tonnes.’

He said world palm produce, comprising crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel oil, accounted for 69% of the world's net exported oils and fats in 2011, up from 29% 30 years ago.

“Oil palm's contribution as a stabilising crop to global food security is now undisputed,” he said, adding that last year, Indonesia and Malaysia accounted for 73% of the world's total net exported oils and fats.

Meanwhile, Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said that globally palm oil was the leading edible oil being traded and consumed.

“Notwithstanding its increasing demand, oil palm planting on a global scale, which is estimated at 12.82 million hectares, has contributed towards production of 45.8 million tonnes of palm oil.

“This is much higher than soybean, which has an estimated planting of 104.5 million hectares globally, but accounts for production of only 40.2 million tonnes of oil,” he said in his keynote address.