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“Humanity’s greed seldom respects boundaries. But even when such boundaries are finally recognized, it often may be too late”. This also rings up the quote from Sir David Attenborough, “I’ve had the most extraordinary life. It is only now that I appreciate how extraordinary”. News clippings reported the market turbulence of vegetable oils worldwide Curiously these quotes now seem very apt, as the world screams shortages of cooking oils brought forth by the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Media expose of the rows and rows of empty supermarket shelves as a result of the disrupted edible oil supply chain are a grim reminder… Read More

Emphasising on the awareness of the palm oil’s sector importance for millions of smallholders in the producing countries and building on undeniable academical findings, the webinar “How sustainable vegetable oil production contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals” was an excellent occasion to discuss, in front of a wide international audience, the main issues around palm oil’s role in the attainment of the UN SDGs. Opening the events, Tan Sri Datuk Dr. Yusof Basiron, CPOPC’s Executive Director, emphasized that palm oil is the most effective vegetable oil when it comes to land use and it is increasingly being produced in a… Read More

Oil palm plants are able to produce biomass that has the potential to replace fossil oil in a sustainable manner. Its main products, palm oil, is able to make a positive contribution to the economy of rural communities effectively in palm oil producing countries, especially Indonesia. However, as an Indonesian student studying in France, I see that the treatment of European society, especially France, towards palm oil and its derivatives, tends to be unfair. I said unfair because The European Commission issued a draft regulation aiming to ban the sale on European soil of soy, beef, palm oil, wood, cocoa… Read More

During these past two weeks the world has been glued to events unfolding as a result of the on-going Russia-Ukraine war. The loss of human life and carnage of all things associated with this is definitely not warranted and prayers are said that this conflict ends soon. While the Russian stranglehold on the supply of petroleum and gas to most of the European Union is well highlighted, not many realize that this conflict has also put a tightening noose on one of the major global edible oils used for human consumption. Indeed, Ukraine and Russia are the major producers of… Read More

Shanghai, China, March 2, 2022, – On March 1, the Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries (CPOPC), an intergovernmental organization for palm oil producing countries, organized a webinar themed “The Vital Role of Sustainable Palm Oil in China’s Future Nutritional Needs”. The webinar discussed the nutritional benefits of sustainable palm oil over other edible oils and the current palm oil consumption trends in China. It also highlighted sustainable palm oil’s enormous potential to meet China’s growing demand for edible oil, while also providing health benefits to its consumers.   Eminent industry experts, including Datuk Dr. Kalyana Sundram, Consultant at CPOPC, Prof.… Read More

Image: Shutterstock Consumers including housewives making dietary decisions, remain highly confused particularly about the nutritional value of oils and fats in their food choices. This is much concerning, yet the confusion persists and often forces the well-meaning housewife into an incorrect dietary decision. A glaring example of such misleading information is the blog post by Marie Dannie entitled “Adverse Effects of Palm Oil”, and uploaded on the website: livestrong.com Understandably the author, like many others assumes palm oil is an easy pick and whatever adverse information spoken around it will likely be taken as the gospel truth. What a great… Read More

Let us also be clear that dietary fats and fatty acids, even in this study, were themselves not the initiators of cancer. As scientists we have long realised that fat and fatty acid uptake from any source and their sometimes accompanying altered metabolism, can be hallmarks of cancer metastasis. Yet the depth of understanding, even today, is still so shallow that a health call on fats and fatty acids associating them with cancer has so far not been warranted. NATURE, a high impact, prestigious peer reviewed science journal, published a landmark study last week (10 November 2021), that could help trigger… Read More

Palm oil consumption in Bangladesh bound to grow with rapid urbanization and growth in GDP Growing economy, increasing per capita income, and evolving lifestyle indicate that edible oil consumption will significantly increase in the coming years in Bangladesh, and palm oil imports are also expected to grow multifold to meet the incessantly increasing demand in the country. In 2021, the import of palm oil was nearly double the import of soybean oil and the main sources were Indonesia and Malaysia Palm oil is currently the highest consumed edible oil in Bangladesh and at the same time the country is one… Read More

The Palm Oil Industry is well on track towards reaching net-zero emissions. Facts and figures proving this great achievement was thoroughly discussed during webinar “Net-Zero Emissions: Achievements and Way Forward in the Palm Oil’s Production”, hosted by the Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries (CPOPC) on 26 January 2022. At the opening session, MEP Seán Kelly underlined the need for a partnership between the European Union and producing countries, and reiterated that palm oil can indeed be produced sustainably. Kelly’s statement in ensuring progress on sustainability was shared by Tan Sri Dr Yusof Basiron, CPOPC’s Executive Director, who stressed that… Read More

Smallholders are crucial for the enhancement of sustainable development and to improve livelihood. New EU policies cannot ignore the pivotal role that Smallholders play in food production. Their exclusion would result in more poverty, lower life conditions and individual rights for billion of people globally, with a substantial failure in the attempt to tackle climate change. Their inclusion requires proactive policies, stronger investments in nutrient producing countries, an active engagement of EU institutions. Green colonialism must be avoided. 2.5bn people are estimated to depend on smallholders farming for their livelihood, one third of total food in the world is produced… Read More