Oversupply of Sustainable Palm Oil
10/01/2012 (The Star) - The certified sustainable version of palm oil products has not been as well received as anticipated by consumer countries.
Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said there was currently an ample supply of certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO).
“However, we are facing an insufficient uptake,” he said when opening a wildlife conservation conference here yesterday.
According to industry figures, demand for CSPO had peaked to nearly 400,000 tonnes in September last year but slumped to just over 100,000 tonnes in November.
Closer look: Dompok (second from right) and Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment
Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun (right) looking at palm-based food products at the MPOC
exhibition booth in Kota Kinabalu yesterday. Accompanying them are (from left)
Malaysian Palm Oil Council chairman Datuk Lee Yeow Chor, MPOC CEO Tan Sri Dr Yusof
Basiron and Sabah Wildlife Department director Datuk Laurentius Ambu.
CSPO is an assurance to consumers that the products purchased come from environmentally friendly, socially responsible sources and suppliers.
At the same time, supply of the commodity stood at about 450,000 tonnes.
Dompok said Malaysian palm oil producers were doing their best to subscribe to international requirements such as abiding by sustainability practices and certification including the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil and International Sustainability and Carbon Certification.
He however noted such certification meant additional costs that were reflected in the higher prices of CSPO.
“Now, it’s a matter of giving the market time to get used to it,” Dompok said.
He said Malaysian palm oil was being exported to 153 countries including Germany, the United Kingdom, France, India and China.
“Malaysia plays an important role in alleviating the need for further land expansion to meet food demands in these countries,” he said.
Dompok noted that oil palm occupied less than 5% of the global oil crops planted area and less than 1% of total agricultural land area in the world.
“With less land needed to produce a tonne of oil, palm oil reduces pressure on global land use and possibly greenhouse gas emissions,” he added.