With expanding population and rising consumption demand, the world will need to produce at least 4 million tonnes of additional vegetable oils year after year, and palm oil is eminently placed to take the centre stage due to its high output-to-land ratio vis-a-vis other vegoil crops, Mr Carl Bek-Nielsen, Vice-Chairman of United Plantations, said here on Tuesday.

He was delivering the keynote speech on challenges and opportunities for the palm oil industry at the Palm and Lauric Oil Conference and Price Outlook here on Tuesday. The event, organised by Bursa Malaysia, saw a record participation of close to 2,000 delegates.

“However, this position (palm oil taking centre stage) can only be attained respectfully if all future and current production complies with the essentials of sustainability,” he said, adding that if not, the industry will face a backlash.

Enumerating the challenges, Mr Nielsen said that labour shortage, stagnating yields, spread of disease and sustainability are the key issues to be addressed by the palm oil industry to be able to meet the growing demand for edible oils, especially in the world's populous and emerging markets.

Coming down on environmental activists spreading disinformation about palm oil suggesting plantations were responsible for deforestation, he said that of the 300 million hectares deforested from 1990 to 2010, only about 3 per cent or 9 million hectares were replaced with oil palm. However, in return, this accounted for as much as 42 per cent of the net growth in the 17 oils and fats produced during that period.

To address labour shortage, Malaysia should engage with Bangladesh for supply of labour in rural surroundings, he said. As for arrest of the spread of disease (bud rot) in South America and Africa, last month the Malaysian Palm Oil Board in February set up a joint task force with Colombian participation.

>gchandra@thehindu.co.in

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