The Health June/July 2020 | Page 27

| Interview | june-july, 2020 | The Health 27 MPOC’s mission is to promote Malaysian palm oil universally. In the first quarter, our sales of palm oil on a global scale went down about 25 per cent compared to the same period in 2019 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It is not just for palm oil. We are competing with 17 other oils and fats globally, all the competing oils had a reduction in overall sales or consumption. So we are just moving on the global trench.” work through the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) and other research data which is available. But often the research data goes into shared reviews on scientific theories. Unless you are a dedicated lipid scientist or a nutritionist, the chances are that you will miss the information. People in the public health domain can and will miss some of the latest information. The onus is on us to prevail and provide the latest news. It is not an easy task because we have to reach out to the health professionals, consumers and lay consumers as well. It is a mindboggling effort, very time consuming and very challenging to take science-based facts and rematch them into language that your reader, a consumer or a layperson can understand and adopt. What has been the response to the MPOC’s ‘Love My Palm Oil Campaign’? Our teams used to go out to shopping malls, universities, schools, meeting people and explaining. Now, the current pandemic has put a big barrier to these engagements. We are reinventing ourselves to do this electronically. The next phase will come a little later. We’ve put in latest palm oil information on our website. We also plan to do additional webinars. In the upcoming months from June onwards, we will do webinars and educational programs on health, nutrition and sustainability. That is the way we are sharing updated information on all things palm oil related as we move forward. But generally speaking, in the previous 12 months of this campaign, the knowledge about palm oil improved. People have higher appreciation on what palm oil is all about. For example, in Malaysia, whether you like it or not, a large part of the fat in our diets comes from palm oil. You go to restaurants and carters, and they’re all cooking with palm oil. You go home, and there is a bottle of palm oil or palm olein. The message that we sent the last 12 months is “regular oil: safe, healthy and nutritious”. And you will come to no harm from consuming it, as long as you consume it at the right level and not overeat or lead an unhealthy lifestyle. I think that message filtered in very nicely to many of those reading and receiving the information. MPOC’s mission is to promote Malaysian palm oil universally. In the first quarter, our sales of palm oil on a global scale went down about 25 per cent compared to the same period in 2019 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It is not just for palm oil. We are competing with 17 other oils and fats globally, all the competing oils had a reduction in overall sales or consumption. So we are just moving on the global trench. How do you see demand for palm oil moving forward? Our monthly output of palm oil will increase. Also, the demand side from consumer countries is beginning to pick up because the primary use of palm oil is still as a food commodity. It is also used for bio-fuel, bio-diesel and other non-food applications. But 80 per cent of palm oil production is as food. Food security will become an essential requirement for any nation that comes out of the lockdown, and affordability is going to be a big issue. Palm oil will likely stand out as a winner when we emerge out of the pandemic. Better outlook for palm oil prices next year The Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) is optimistic that palm oil prices which are currently hovering at around the RM2,200 level, will improve throughout this and next year. Its CEO Datuk Dr Kalyana Sundram forecasts the price could rise beyond RM2,300 to RM2,500 per tonne next year. Currently, it is above RM2,200 and said he would be happy if it remained at around the RM2,350 level this year. Sundram said that despite the constraints due to the Covid-19 pandemic, MPOC’s target this year of RM2,300 and above per tonne could still be achieved. “We probably look forward to a higher price level in 2021,” he said. In the first quarter of 2020, sales of palm oil on a global scale has gone down by about 25 per cent compared to the same period in 2019 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Sundram said palm oil was always sold at a discount compared to other oils such as soybean and corn. He sees this as a positive trading opportunity for palm oil to gain market share post the pandemic as well. “Palm oil trades at a discount to the other competing oils and is cheaper, and we suspect that this is going to drive the consumption of palm oil particularly in the developing countries which are our major markets and our consumption of palm oil globally will pick up,” he said. The market for palm oil in the EU is stagnating this period in 2020 with two major EU palm oil consuming countries, Spain and Italy, being “the hardest hit” by the Covid-19 pandemic, said Sundram. But regardless of the downturn, he believes palm oil demand will return slowly and steadily. “If you look at the makeup of the palm oil utilisation in Europe, about 60 per cent of palm oil imported to Europe has been used for bio-diesel / renewable energy and about 35 per cent for food applications,” he said. Sundram also said the cap imposed by the Malaysian government on the expansion of oil palm plantations in the country would not lead to supply constraints. “Currently, our production capacity is 20 million tonnes per annum. Our plantations have a yield of four to six tonnes per hectares while for smallholders, it is lower at around 3.2-3.5 tonnes. “Our goal is to achieve a yield of six tonnes per hectare through better plantation management practices. This will enable our production to increase to at least 30 million tonnes per annum. Therefore, better utilisation of land and increased yield output per hectare will be the driver for the palm oil industry in future,” he said. Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) CEO Datuk Dr Kalyana Sundram acted quickly. He did not mince his words when he said the WHO “should focus on coming up with radically different health management ideas instead of falling back on antiquated messages”. What is the status of Malaysia’s palm oil trade with India? There are reports India is coming back into the market, which is a good sign. But today, India is requesting for Crude Palm Oil (CPO). It’s because they have a lot of refining capacity built onshore in India, and because of the lockdown, they are operating less than optimally. We hope to see continuous improvement in the trade of palm oil with India. How well accepted is the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certification, and is it gaining international recognition? The MSPO applies primarily to the Malaysian oil palm industry. In Europe, most of the food trade currently goes through Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). MSPO has got to work towards being as an acceptable certification system and it may take some time to do that. The Malaysian Palm Oil Certification Council (MPOCC) is currently working to achieve that goal. In the run-up to the Tokyo Olympics, MSPO was accepted by the Tokyo Olympic Council as a mark of certified sustainable palm oil supplies. That was a big move forward for MSPO. But unfortunately, the Tokyo Olympics has been postponed due to Covid-19. — The Health