Live from POTS 2014 Palm oil Conference

I'm lucky enough to get to attend POTS (Palm Oil Trade Fair and Seminar) 2014.

9 am: We had the introduction from notable vips from the MPOC.  The  morning talks have been centered around food security, sustainable palm oil, and challenges faced by foreign NGO's that have been attacking palm oil


11 am:  MPOC Tan Sri Datuk Yusof Basiron gave a speech about how prevalent the anti lobby against palm oil is.  Although Datuk Yusof has very good points, I'd like him to address NGOs from a less critical point of view.  A question about the haze he sort of laughed off and indirectly pointed to other countries by implying that Malaysia doesn't burn forests.  I can attest just driving to the airport that there was burning in Malaysia. 

The main advantage of palm oil is the low carbon footprint compared to other crops like soy, but if all those forests are burned to produce the low carbon footprint, then what is the net affect?   Burning an entire acre of forests is a lot f carbon footprint if you ask me.  If we can address these issues, palm oil will have less enemies.

He says we don't know why they are so critical on palm oil, but to me it is obvious as the haze problem has gotten extensive news coverage year after year and affects many countries in Asia.  No doubt the haze problem every year is one of the biggest recurring environmental debacles that there seems to be no solution to.  To be fair, it is difficult to combat but I suppose if we don't act, our end overseas customers will.

1 pm:  Jose Olivero Angel Garcia talked about biodiesel in Europe.  He mainly talked about the challenges palm oil faces in Europe as biodiesel use in Europe will be limited.  Europe has mandated that biodiesel contain 10 pct of sustainable blend of alternate oils.  Palm oil's share is growing but will be limited to about 10 mil tons per year from the 6-7 million tonnes currently.

3 pm:  Abah Ofon from Standard Chartered talked about opportunities for palm oil in Africa.  He starts out with some of the population demographics in Africa and how attractive it is for palm oil.  Urbanization helps drive demand for palm oil due to convenience foods and high protein diets.  It seems even Africa has a view that palm oil is less healthy than other edible oils.  Apparently plam oil has its media work cut out for them. 

There is heavy investment in Africa in palm plantations but even with all the heavy investment, it seems its not enough to keep up with demand.  By the time the supply comes online, demand will be even greater.  Shows the power of growth in Africa!

4 pm:  Dr. Kalayana Sundram from the MPOC talks about scientifically disproving some of the misconceptions of palm oil as unhealthy.  Much of the misconception stems from saturated fat leads to higher coronary heart disease risk.  Apparently this is not so as hydrogenized fats are the culprit to higher risk of heart disease.  This is also called transfatty acid. 

Apparently the US has accepted palm oil as an alternative to transfat oils.  It is expected the rest of the world will change their perceptions.  Even coconut oil as of late has gained attention for health benefits.  Compared to palm oil, it doesn't hold a candle apparently as red palm oil is shown to reduce stroke risk. 

If you ask me, palm oil just suffers from a lack of sex appeal.  How about them coconuts?  rolls off the tongue much better than how about those palms seeds?  Palm oil just needs a little sexy in its media campaigns!