PALM OIL Not branched with long single stem Large spherical red - PDF document

10/28/15 ¡ What is it? • Perennial tropical trees • African oil palm Elaeis guineesnsis • South and Central American oil palm Elaeis oleifera PALM OIL • Not branched with long single stem • Large spherical red fruits in bunches (200 fruits per bunch) Lauren Gessner • Edible vegetable oil from the mesocarp of fruit of oil palms • One of few highly saturated vegetable fats and semi-solid at room temp. • Common cooking ingredient in tropical belt of Africa, Southeast Asia, Brazil, processed food ingredient, and substitute for butter, binding agent in cosmetics, can be used to produce biodiesel • Crude vs. refined History/Origin Growing conditions • Human use dates back as far as 5,000 years • From West Africa brought to South East Asia beginning of 20 th century • Late 1800s, archaeologists found substance that was a palm oil tomb at Abydos dating to 3,000 BCE • Believed the Arab traders brought palm oil to Egypt • During Industrial Revolution, use as lubricant for machinery by British traders • Formed basis of soap products (Unilever, Palmolive) • 50% of items you see in grocery store contain palm oil Market/sales • Top palm oil producing nations: Indonesia and Malaysia , account for 85% of global palm oil production • Indonesia: 28.4 million tons • Malaysia: 19.2 million tons • High demand for commercial cooking • 50 million tons produced annually • 25-30 year economic lifespan: become too tall to be managed efficiently and cut down • Over 600,000 tons exported from South-East Asia annually • Cardiovascular disease: decline? • Orgagic Red Palm oil: $8.45 for 15 fl oz 1 ¡

10/28/15 ¡ Pests, weeds, and control Transportation • Pestalotiopsis leaf spot -tree removed and destroyed; planted • Travel long distances before consumed with adequate spacing for air to circulate between trees; • From plantations to mills in producing countries remove weeds; fungicides • Then refineries in Europe • Ganoderma butt rot -monitored and removed • Bacterial bud rot -some varieties have resistance • Manufacturers/consumers in India, China, Europe, • Oil palm wilt -quarantine between countries America and rest of the world • Rhinoceros beetle -chop and burn to kill larvae • Internationally traded agricultural commodities, • Mealybugs (Pineapple mealybug) -can be controlled by transported by various modes: trucks, ships, trains, and natural enemies (lady beetles) and chemicals airplanes (liquid cargo: temp controlled) • Axonopus compressus • Add to cost and the negative impacts on the environment • Eleusine indica • Efficient transportation as it deteriorates in quality after crop has • Planted with leguminous cover crop: provides nitrogen and been harvested and milled suppress weeds Processing • Hard fruit, must be cooked for hour • Miniature capsules of oil that break • Pressed to red palm oil • Conversion of crude palm oil to refined oil: • Removal of products of hydrolysis and oxidation, color and flavor Economic factors Production costs • Factors affecting prices of palm oil: • RSPO Certification • Supply and demand of palm oil • $2.59-$9.26/ha • Price of other oils • Ongoing certification maintenance costs= 20-33% of initial certification costs • Weather patterns • Certification lasts 5 years with annual surveillance audits • Importing policies/taxes • Other actions vary $3.74-$38.32/ha • Demand grown: plantations expanded to meet global • Harvest 300 bundles a day: earns a salary of 180 Honduras demand lempiras~about $9.40 USD 2 ¡

10/28/15 ¡ Sustainable? Sustainable? cont. • Use has attracted environmental concern • Human rights issues/child labor • High oil yield of trees encourages cultivation • Loss of indigenous land • Clearing of forests in Indonesia to make room for oil-palm • Malaysian Government pledged to limit expansion of palm monoculture: 300 football fields each hour cleared oil plantations: keep minimum of half the nation’s land as forest cover • Deforestation • Acreage losses of natural habitat of orangutan: 90% of habitat destroyed in last 20 years Organic/Conventional Justin’s • Conventionally grown, but also organically certified • Palm oil prevents oils separating from nut butters • Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) • Will be certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) • International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) • How complicated palm oil sourcing has become • Market for sustainable palm oil threatened by certifications and difficulties • Balancing sustainability and profitability Works Cited Questions? • www.thefoodjourney.com • http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2011/08/02/justins-nut-butter-search- sustainable-palm-oil • https://www.plantvillage.com/en/topics/oil-palm/infos/ diseases_and_pests_description_uses_propagation • http://www.sustainablepalmoil.org/transport-biofuels/transport/ • http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/y4355e/y4355e04.htm • http://www.saynotopalmoil.com/Whats_the_issue.php • http://www.americanpalmoil.com/publications/Guideline%20for %20Handling%20and%20Storage%20of%20Palm%20Oil %20Product.pdf • http://www.sustainablepalmoil.org/standards-certfication/certification- schemes/ • http://www.rspo.org/file/ 3_StudyontheRestorationCostandReturnsfromOilPalmIndustry_Prepa redbyERE.pdf 3 ¡