IntroductionDuring the last few years, palm oil has been facing a number of complex issues in the European Union (hereinafter, the EU), which remains an important market not only commercially, but also as a trend-setter for many of the regulatory and non-governmental initiatives that have the ability to seriously affect palm oil‟s marketability and the conditions of competition with other vegetable oils. These issues can be divided, for ease of review and discussion, on the basis of the main industrial applications of palm oil: as a food ingredient and as a biofuel. In turn, each of these areas of market dynamics must be reviewed on the basis of the type of actors involved and the key issues that palm oil is confronted with. This article aims at providing a review of these issues and indicating the actions that MPOC has already undertaken or that may be warranted in order to safeguard the interests of the palm oil industry.

Palm oil as a food ingredientThe main EU development that, over the last few years, has been of great concern to the palm oil industry is the string of anti-palm oil campaigns that have been waged by a number of EU producers and distribution chains. In particular, these actions have been directed against palm oil used in the food sector. Much of this is being driven by campaigns originating in France and undertaken in the French

language. Such actions are progressively pushing several food manufacturers to label their food packages as ‘palm oil free’, although such information is not required by law and, inasmuch as it is a nutritional claim, also not permitted and arguably illegal under EU and French law.

The ‘palm oil free’ campaigns being conducted by a number of French retailers are de facto ‘forcing’ manufacturers to make such claims on the labels of their products. This may result in the progressive abandoning of palm oil as a food ingredient, with an aura of negative attributes being cast on palm oil in general among EU consumers. These private marketing and labelling campaigns have taken hold, especially in France and to a lesser degree in Belgium, primarily because of two factors:1) the imminent changes to EU labelling

rules of vegetable oils used in food products; and

2) the appeal that these ‘negative labels’ have in the minds of EU consumers and, hence, the use and abuse made by some unscrupulous market operators.

The imminent changes, in terms of the labelling of the different vegetable oils as ingredients in foodstuffs, are those brought about by Regulation (EU) No.

1169/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on the provision of food information to consumers (known as the ‘Food Information Regulation’, hereinafter, FIR), which are due to apply across the EU as of 13 December 2014. The FIR was not adopted to target any particular vegetable oil, but it provides (in relevant

MPOC FORTUNE

MALAYSIAN PALM OIL COUNCIL KKDN PP 14669/05/2013 (032704) VOL: 5 2014

®

DIRECTOR

Faudzy Asrafudeen Sayed Mohamed faudzy@mpoc.org.my

MANAGERS

Muhammad Kharibi Zainal Ariffin kharibi@mpoc.org.my

Mohd Izham Hassan izham@mpoc.org.my

MARKET ANALYSTS

Asia Pacific Lim Teck Chaii (China) lim@mpoc.org.my

Asia Pacific Mohd Hafezh Bin Abdul Rahman (Excl. China) mhafezh@mpoc.org.my

South Asia Fatimah Zaharah Md Nan fatimah@mpoc.org.my

Middle-East Mohamad Suhaili Hambali msuhaili@mpoc.org.my

Africa Nor Iskahar Nordin iskahar@mpoc.org.my

Europe Azriyah Azian azriyah@mpoc.org.my

Americas Mohd Izham Hassan izham@mpoc.org.my

MARKETING & MARKET DEVELOPMENT DIVISION

For more information, please contact Tel : 603 - 7806 4097 Fax: 603 - 7806 2272

Continued on page 7

“Palm Oil andEU Market: Key Issues and Actions by MPOC”

Part 1 of 2

MPOC FORTUNE •  3

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Continued on page 6

PALM Oil trade at the Port of Durban has registered a steady increase since early 80’s. In recent years, palm oil products unloaded in this port has experienced significant growth, particularly in 2005 onward. In 2013, palm trade registered 380,000 metric tonnes and Malaysia Palm oil imports take up more than 40 per cent of this traffic. The constant increase

in the palm oil trade has moved the Port of Durban to attract an even higher volume of this traffic.

Factors favouring Port of Durban There are a number of factors that make Port of Durban most suitable as the distribution hub for palm oil exports to Southern African countries. Perhaps the

most important reason is that Port of Durban is located at the confluence of maritime routes to Asia, Europe, and South America.

The port of Durban is located at the crossroads of one of the busiest shipping routes the world, linking the Far East, Africa and Europe. Durban’s strategic location enabled the port authorities to successfully rise to the challenge of the turning the port into a regional hub for the Indian Ocean and Atlantic Ocean in a wider context the four continents of Europe, Africa, Asia and South America. This expanding shipping hub is located in one of the busiest maritime trade routes in the world. Furthermore, this country enjoys political stability and economic growth which provides privileged access to a large market base of Southern African Community (SADC).

It is also the busiest port in South Africa and has become one of the main re-export points for products destined to other neighboring landlocked countries in Southern Africa such as Botswana and Zimbabwe. One of the many features this

Source: Trade Estimates

500,000

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2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Chart1: Palm oil - Traffic Evolution

Palm oil

Port of Durban:Reaching out toSouthern Africa Region

This key port occupies at vital crossroads on the trade routes between East and West, at the tip of Africa is also suited to take advantage of the growing maritime trade between the growing economics of South America and Asia.

Part 1 of 2

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MPOC FORTUNE •  5

Continued on page 9

One of the countries in the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), Bulgaria has become one of the most important Malaysian Palm Oil (MPO) importers in the region. According to MPOB data, MPO export to Bulgaria in 2013 was recorded at 9,947 MT, more than any other countries in the region that include Romania, Poland and new EU member state, Croatia.

Bulgaria is one of the emerging market economies in the world where the private sector accounts for more than 80% of the country’s GDP. Agriculture is one of the important and most promising sectors. The country enjoys admirable natural conditions for developing the agriculture and forestry sector. Cultivated agricultural land occupies about 4.9 million hectares or 44% of the total territory of the country. The favourable climate for crop production and the

availability of agricultural land and long traditions have resulted in well-developed plant growing and animal breeding. Low labour costs and the high-schools and colleges offering training in modern farming and animal breeding add to the existing advantages.

Traditionally, Bulgaria has had a leading position in exports of grapes, oriental tobacco, tomatoes, apricots and other agricultural products to European markets. Among the main crops produced are tomatoes, pepper, tobacco, grapes, wheat, maize, beans, potato, sunflower, peaches, apricots, apples, melons, and nuts. Other traditions in the agriculture sector include sheep, pig and cattle breeding, poultry farming and bee-keeping.

Bulgaria is also one of the major producers of sunflower seed and sunseed oil among the CEE countries

besides Hungary and Romania. Crushings were at the highest level in 5 years when a total of 529,700 MT of oilseeds were crushed in 2012. 475,000 MT or 90% of the crushings was for sunflower seed.

Domestic sunflowerseeds are traded within the EU member states. In 2013, Bulgaria exported most of its sunflowerseed to Portugal, the Netherlands and Spain. Trade with third countries include high sunflowerseed export to Turkey and other parts of Europe namely Norway, Serbia & Montenegro, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Some of the sunflowerseeds were also exported to the US. Rapeseed is also another oilseed exported. Major trading rapeseed partners in the EU include Romania, Portugal, Belgium and France while a significant amount of rapeseed was also exported to Turkey in 2013.

Sunflower oil is the main vegetable oil produced in the oils and fats sector. In 2013, 241,000 MT of sunflower oil was produced, a growth of 63% from only 148,000 MT recorded back in 2008. Larger planting and harvested areas as well as improved yields per hectare have contributed to the greater sunflowerseed outputs over the years. Rapeseed oil saw its production on the rise to 25,000 MT in 2013 compared to only 9,000 MT produced in 2008. Bulgaria has maintained its production of lard with an average of 25,600 MT produced annually since 6 years ago. Other oils and fats such as corn oil, butter as fat, soybean oil and cotton oil sum up the country’s total production.

MARKETInsightsIns g

Table 1: MPO Exports to CEE Countries (Jan-Dec 2012-2013) - MT

Country 2013 2012

Bulgaria 9,947 10,246

Croatia 6,015 6,221

Czech Republic 89 158

Estonia 516 283

Hungary 111 508

Latvia 258 235

Lithuania 7 262

Poland 1,041 619

Romania 7,207 4,947

Slovakia 5 0

Slovenia 432 255

Total CEE Region 25,628 23,734

Source: MPOB

Bulgaria -A Gateway ForPalm Oil InCentral andEastern Europe

6 •  MPOC FORTUNE

port is the excellent railway network and roads which connects Durban to the rest of South Africa and also the neigbouring countries. Durban is the main discharge port for oils and fats in South Africa. There are also other ports which cater for oils and fats discharge such as Cape Town and East London on a smaller scale. However, there is no tank facility at Cape Town and the oil is discharged directly into lorry tankers for distribution.

The largest concentration of tank farms in South Africa is situated at the port of Durban and operated by independent companies. The largest independent tank farm at Durban is owned by Island View Storage (Pty) Ltd. According to IVS, the total storage capacity for heated oils and fats including palm oil products is estimated at 100,000 tonnes. Discharge of palm oil is usually at berths 2 and 4 where the water depth is about 10.6 metres. The normal discharge rate is about 100-120 tonnes per hour.

Oils & fats in South AfricaPalm Oil is not new in South Africa and other parts of Southern Africa region and is a growing market for palm oil and palm

kernel oil. The bulk of the palm oil products are imported from Malaysia and Indonesia. Unilever is the largest consumer of palm products in South

Africa estimated at 150,000 MT per annum. The major contributing factors which enhanced palm oil trade are: i) Price competitiveness of palm oilii) Inherent functional propertiesiii) Suitability for deep frying and solid

fats/confectionery, fats/soap manufacture

iv) Availability of suitable port storage and inland haulage facilities for handling palm oil products.

South Africa is one of the largest importers of oils and fats in Sub-Sahara Africa. Local supply of oils and fats is unable to meet requirements due to limited crop size. Its average annual output is about 575,000 metric tonnes of oils and fats meets about 44 per cent of the domestic requirement. In 2013, only 555,000 metric tonnes of oils and fats were produced while consumption was recorded at 1.3 million metric tonnes. Oils and fats production witnessed a moderate growth of three per cent per annum during the last five years.

Port of Durban: Reachingout to Southern Africa Region

The Sea Port of Durban with capacity of 2.9 million Twenty Foot Equivalents (TEUs). In medium term the capacity can be increased to 5.0 million upon construction of additional five new container berths, from current 46 berths. Durban allows maximum clearance of 16 meter for loaded vessel in ideal condition. Durban handled about 70 % of South Africa’s containers. The long term development of the dig-out port allows for a total of 16 new containers, four liquid bulk berths and three car terminal berths with their respective back of quay operational areas and road and rail connections.

Continued from page 3

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Privately operated liquid bulk terminal of Port of Durban handled the majority of liquid bulk volumes includes oils and fats. The new Durban Dig-out Port will be provide extra handling capacity with new berths and tanks farmed planned.

Continued on page 12

MPOC FORTUNE •  7

part) that the specific vegetable oil(s) used in any given food product must be indicated in the labelling of the package as of the said date. In simple terms, the FIR will soon no longer allow that the neutral category of ‘vegetable oils’ be used for any vegetable oil without specifying the specific oil(s), such as palm oil, present in any food product. The application of the new labelling regime was delayed until 13 December 2014 in order to allow time for producers to adjust their labels.

By targeting palm oil with the ‘no palm oil’ or ‘palm oil free’ marketing and labelling campaigns, the commercial operators that are waging them intend to denigrate palm oil and convince as many consumers as possible that palm oil is bad, for either nutritional or environmental reasons, or for both. Their assumption is that, once the new FIR labelling requirements will come into play, many consumers will no longer purchase products that contain palm oil. This also has an evil, but somewhat astute, marketing appeal in that consumers are increasingly prone to believe that products that are ‘low in’ or ‘free from’ are better, healthier and to be preferred over those that have the targeted ingredients (inter alia, fat, sugar, allergens, preservatives, but now also, disturbingly, ingredients like palm oil).

From a legal perspective, these campaigns appear to be, at best, deceptive or unsubstantiated generalisations and, at worst, fraudulent in nature and aimed at denigrating competing oils and/or promoting certain products by implying that whatever is used as an ingredient is better, healthier or environmentally greener than what is

not used. When made in a nutritional context, these ‘palm oil free’ labels are arguably not approved by the EU and, therefore, to be considered as illegal nutrition claims under Regulation (EC) No. 1924/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council on nutrition and health claims made on foods and/or as misleading and deceptive claims under Directive 2000/13/EC and Directive 2006/114/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning misleading and comparative advertising.

Similarly, the environmental allegations hinted at by some of these ‘palm oil free’ logos are always unsubstantiated generalisations in that not all the palm oil contained in a specific product and being discouraged or denigrated with the negative labels is (or can be proved to be) environmentally unsustainable.

By soon making it compulsory that the oil origin be specified (so that a consumer can make an informed choice in the selection of food products), a mere look at the list of ingredients will tell consumers whether a product contains a specific vegetable oil or not. ‘Palm oil free’ labelling campaigns directly on the product packaging must, therefore, be seen not only as illegal or deceptive (as argued above), but also unnecessary as of 13 December 2014, since any consumer will be able to tell what vegetable oil is present or not in any food product. There will be no need to use these dubious ‘palm oil free’ campaigns in order to ‘help’ consumers make informed choices. However, it is possible (and perhaps even likely, given the ‘hidden agendas’ that these campaigns pursue) that such harmful and misleading information campaigns, based on the

skilful use of ‘free-from’ labels, may still be addressed at consumers.

Authorities and commercial operators need to closely scrutinise the market and challenge these anti-competitive practices. The expectation is that EU authorities and EU Member States will continue to take labelling seriously and, while they impose costly new rules on producers, they also ensure that consumers are not misled by astute marketing techniques that have no informative agenda, but simply aim at denigrating certain vegetable oils in order to promote others or to convince consumers that what is ‘free-from’ a certain oil is a better product. It is with these commercial and legal considerations in mind that MPOC has engaged, over the last year and a half, in a series of legal actions, primarily in France, in order to fight these damaging ‘palm oil free’ campaigns and defend the good name and reputation of palm oil.

Actions have been taken in France at the administrative level before the competent provincial-level authorities (known as Departmental Directorates for the Protection of Populations, or DDPPs in the French acronym) and with the central-level authority (known as Directorate General for Competition, Consumption and Repression of Fraud of the French Ministry of Finance, or DGCCRF in the French acronym), which are in charge of safeguarding competition, protecting consumers and combating commercial frauds. Administrative complaints have been lodged against 5 French companies that have been resorting to ‘no palm oil’ labels on many of their food products: Findus, Lay’s, Jacquet, Frial and Casino. The procedures and lengthy discussions held with the French administrative authorities, especially the DGCCRF, have resulted in internal instructions sent by DGCCRF to the provincial-level DDPPs that actions should be taken on the market when ‘palm oil free’ labels are used by producers or retailers within a nutritional context.

That is a major victory for MPOC and a shift in approach by the French authorities that have essentially recognized that, when ‘palm oil free’

“Palm Oil and EU Market: Key Issues and Actions by MPOC”

Continued from page 1

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MPOC FORTUNE •  9

Bulgaria - A Gateway For Palm OilIn Central and Eastern Europe

Sunflower oil is also a major export for Bulgaria. In 2013, it accounts for 72% of total domestic production of oils and fats, a growth of 46% from a year ago. Key destinations of Bulgarian sunflower oil are the EU countries, with other export destinations being Macedonia, Egypt and Turkey. Rapeseed oil is also exported with major recipients within the EU. In 2013, 23,400 MT of rapeseed oil was exported compared to 14,100 MT registered in 2012.

Palm Oil in Bulgaria To complement domestic requirements in the oils and fats sector, Bulgaria imported a total of 99,000 MT of oils and fats in 2013, slightly lower than 106,000 MT imported a year earlier. Palm oil is the main imported vegetable oil and second most consumed oils and fats in the country after sunflower oil. The demand for palm oil and its derivative products continues to increase from year to year leading to the boost in the import figures.

In 2013, palm oil import into Bulgaria reached 49,000 MT, accounting for 49% of total imports. This was an increase of 14% from 43,000 MT of palm oil that was imported in 2012.

Based on Oil World data, in 2013 palm oil imports into Bulgaria were at 48,700 MT, an increase of 14% from 2012. Palm oil into Bulgaria was mostly imported from Greece at 18,900 MT, followed by Indonesia with 15,700 MT. The data also

shows that 9,000 MT of palm oil imported into Bulgaria was from Malaysia (the MPOB figures are 9,947 MT). The main palm oil products exported to Bulgaria from Malaysia in 2013 were RBD palm oil and RBD palm olein. Other palm products exported to Bulgaria from Malaysia include palm kernel oil, oleochemicals (soap noodles) and finished products (shortening). Some of the tonnages of palm oil in Bulgaria were also re-exported according to Oil World, notably to the neighbouring Romania.

According to the RSPO website, a leading company in Greece manufactures vegetable and other specialty fats most of which have palm oil as the raw material. It also operates in the Balkan Peninsula, with two factories, one of which located in Bulgaria. The company is reportedly exporting their products in all Balkan countries including Bulgaria. It also shares the common borders with Greece and shores on the Black Sea which could explain the amount of palm oil coming from Greece into Bulgaria.

Table 2: Crushings and Trade (with 3rd countries) of Oilseeds (1000 T)

2013E 2012 2011 2010 2009

Crushings

Soybeans 7.0 2.1 6.9 15.5 5.1

Cottonseed 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.5 1.0

Sunflowerseed 480.0 475.0 405.0 360.0 415.0

Rapeseed 55.0 52.0 38.0 36.1 38.3

Total 542.5 529.7 450.6 412.1 459.5

Imports

Soybeans 4.0 0.1 1.8 0.1 0.1

Groundnuts 5.9 6.1 4.8 5.9 5.7

Sunflowerseed 7.0 5.7 7.8 11.4 8.8

Linseed 0.5 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.2

Total 17.4 12.2 14.7 17.7 14.8

Exports

Sunflowerseed 112.0 148.5 220.7 166.0 388.5

Rapeseed 49.0 49.8 36.8 42.3 23.4

Total 161.0 198.2 257.6 208.3 411.9

Source: Oil World and MPOC Estimates

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2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

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Chart 1: Sunflower oil is the major oil produced in Bulgaria

10 •  MPOC FORTUNE

labels are used to imply (lower or negative) nutritional attributes of products containing palm oil or, vice-versa, the healthier nutritional attributes of products that do not contain palm oil as an ingredient, that label is to be intended as a nutritional claim and, and such, illegal in that it is not expressly approved by EU law. At the administrative level, it is now necessary to ‘police’ the commercial practices of these and other operators and file new complaints if the labels used appear to be partly or wholly nutritional in nature.

The problem, of course, is that many of these ‘palm oil free’ labels are not entirely nutritional in nature (i.e., some are only partly so or impliedly so, by reference to nutritional information or allegations made on other media, such as advertisements in retail points, websites, leaflets, YouTube initiatives, etc.) and some are (also or only) environmental in nature. The best example of these complex and multifaceted campaigns are those that have been waged by French supermarket chain Casino, which uses a wide variety of techniques, has placed ‘palm oil free’ labels on over 350 products and has singled-out palm oil as the target of a systematic marketing campaign aimed at denigrating palm oil and, in the process, sell more of its products as a green and health-conscious supermarket. For that reason, and in order to get clear interpretative language by means of a judicial decision from a French Court, MPOC has lodged a judicial complaint before the Tribunal de Commerce (i.e., the Commercial Court) of Paris against Casino. The case filed is legally complex and extensive in scope. Despite the slow pace of French justice and some procedural setbacks relating to the standing of the MPOC before French Courts, the substance of the MPOC’s legal challenge and arguments is strong and a positive outcome is expected. If so, the scope of these ‘palm oil free’ labelling campaigns will be severely limited and the palm oil industry will be able to use this ruling to ‘educate’ French consumers about the environmental, nutritional and commercial realities of palm oil.

A similar process of ‘education’ is warranted also vis-à-vis many EU politicians, regulators and decision-makers, both at EU level and within individual EU Member States, where recent developments indicate a lack of correct understanding about the palm oil industry or a set of ‘hidden agendas’ that may result in policies or measures that would be highly detrimental and discriminatory to palm oil. Examples, in recent times, of these worrying legislative or regulatory developments are the so-called French proposal for a ‘Nutella tax’ (that in 2012 and 2013 aimed at increasing taxation of palm oil from around €100 per metric tonne to €400 in order to discourage the use of a product that the French Senators proposing the tax considered environmentally and nutritionally dangerous), similar legislative initiatives proposed in Belgium, and other behavioural or ‘sin’ taxes that are increasingly being promoted in a number of EU countries (again, as late as February 2014, in France, where two Senators tabled a new study indicating the merits of taxation increases with respect to oils such as palm oil, palm kernel oil and coconut oil for their nutritional dangers).

The term “behavioural taxation” designates the use of taxation to encourage behaviours that are considered beneficial for public health. This term has been used to refer to governmental action in the area of tobacco control, as well as to discourage consumption of certain foodstuffs, such as saturated fats, trans fats, high-sugar or fatty products, but increasingly also soft drinks, confectionery, fast foods and now also some specific ingredients that are being singled-out and targeted as allegedly and inherently dangerous.

MPOC has been active in monitoring these developments and in taking swift action to partake in the legislative and regulatory discussions being held in Parliament and among Government authorities in order to fend off these alarming proposals. Letters have been sent to the relevant stakeholders and, so far, the French Government has responsibly decided not to adopt such measures to pursue what may otherwise be a legitimate policy (i.e., combating increasing obesity and protecting the health of consumers). However, these important objectives cannot be achieved by singling-out and targeting specific ingredients or vegetable oils per se, such

as palm oil, palm kernel oil and coconut oil, or end products such as Nutella, which contain palm oil. The French Government knows that such behavioural tax targeting (de facto, if not de jure) specific imported products (like palm oil) would likely be WTO inconsistent and, therefore, too dangerous to adopt. MPOC will continue ‘policing’ this regulatory front and intervene as necessary to ensure that the debate remains based on science, not influenced by ‘hidden agendas’ that have little to do with the protection of consumers’ health, and that the measures adopted (if any) are non-discriminatory and both EU and WTO consistent.

In light of this overall objective and of the type of legislative and regulatory developments and proposals that are increasingly occurring within the EU, MPOC has also embarked on a number of ‘soft’ initiatives aimed at ‘educating’ EU regulators, legislators and decision-makers with respect to palm oil. Academic and legal publications are, for instance, being sponsored to discuss the issue of ‘negative labelling’, which appears poorly regulated at EU level and often allowing market operators to adopt marketing techniques that are fundamentally based on deception and/or unsubstantiated generalizations, if not actual fraud, in order to promote certain products by denigrating others. This must not be allowed and clearer rules and procedures must be defined at EU level and uniformly applied throughout the EU market by EU Member States’ authorities. Similar actions are being sponsored within the framework of ad hoc specialised conferences and university seminars, so that these issues can be discussed and advanced within the confines of academia and among scholars, away from the pressures and controversies of more commercial contexts.

These issues are also of extreme importance to many other sectors, in that they are ‘horizontal issues’ of good regulation that stand to affect many other commercial and industrial interests. The palm oil industry stands a better chance to address and resolve some of these disturbing developments if it works in cooperation with other actors, many of which are Europeans or EU-based which have similar systemic concerns and objectives. Kumar, MPOC Brussels

(Watch out for Part 2 in our next issue)

“Palm Oil and EU Market: Key Issues and Actions by MPOC”

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Chart 2: Palm Oil Is The Second Most Consumed Oilsand Fats After Sunflower Oil

Bulgaria - A Gateway For Palm OilIn Central and Eastern Europe

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Marketing Malaysian Palm Oil in BulgariaGood opportunities in Bulgarian agriculture sector exist in the creation of production chains through a combination of selected companies in clusters covering primary sector, processing, sales and distribution. A crucial advantage of the sector is the presence of well-established food research and development institutions. Within Bulgaria a special EU support program

(SAPARD), provides 50% investment subsidy for investment projects in agriculture. However, the country faces a shortage of labour in the agriculture sector. The average age of Bulgarian farmers is 58 years old. Only about 2.4 per cent of the recent university graduates have degrees in agronomy, veterinary sciences and related courses. 

The main palm oil products imported into Bulgaria are palm olein in drums for

blending with sunflower oil and bottling for retail sales as well as palm shortening. Although a member of the European Union, unlike its much developed Western Europe counterparts, the image of palm oil in Bulgaria is relatively good. There does not seem to be much concern about saturated fats and much interest has been developed over the years on palm oil products especially red palm olein.

Food security has been emphasised in Bulgaria’s agriculture and food sectors. The Government has underlined four major pillars in meeting its target on food security; availability (including productivity), accessibility (including affordable prices for all people), utilisation (including quality and food safety) and sustainability. The present Bulgarian Government has implemented a simple business administration to facilitate small to medium enterprises. This opens the doors to many opportunities to develop more concrete business co-operations between local companies and overseas’ counterparts, such as market expansion for agricultural products and collaboration in research and technology.

The future of palm oil in Bulgaria is fairly good and looks promising. Palm oil certainly has the advantage to fulfil the four pillars in meeting the food security target set by Bulgarian Government. Oil palm yield has the highest land productivity than any other competing oilseeds including sunflower making it a sustainable crop. Palm oil’s continuous supply makes it readily available to the consumers. This presents the opportunities to Malaysian Palm Oil players in a form of a joint venture (JV) with local partner. Collaborations could include potential blending of palm oil with sunflower oil and marketing of palm olein in opaque bottles. This was proven a success in the neighbouring country, Romania. MPOC offers assistance to Malaysian palm oil players who are interested in this type of joint venture. Azriyah Azian, MPOC HQ

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Source: Oil World

Chart 3: Palm oil is the most imported oils and fats

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MPOCOffices

WorldwideMalaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC)2nd Floor Wisma Sawit Lot 6, SS 6, Jalan Perbandaran47301 Kelana Jaya, SelangorTel: 603-7806 4097Fax: 603-7806 2272www.mpoc.org.my

American Palm Oil Council 1010 Wisconsin Av, Suite 307Washington DC 20007Tel: +1 (202) 333 0661Fax: +1 (202) 333 0331www.americanpalmoil.comE-mail: Ahmad Fadzli Abd AzizContact: fad.aziz@americanpalmoil.com

MPOC Africa Regional Office5 Nollsworth Crescent, Nollsworth ParkLa Lucia Ridge Office Estate,La Lucia 4051, KwaZulu-Natal, South AfricaTel: +27 (31) 5666 171Fax: +27 (31) 5666 170E-mail: kazmi@mpoc.org.zaPostal Address:P.O.Box 1591M.E.C.C. 4301, South AfricaContact: Kamal Azmi

MPOC Bangladesh62-63 Motijheel Commercial Area,7th Floor, Amin Court Building,Dhaka, BangladeshTel: +88 (02) 9571 216Fax: +88 (02) 9551 836E-mail: fakhrul@mpoc.org.bdContact: Fakhrul Alam

MPOC ShanghaiShanghai Westgate Mall Co. Ltd.Room 1610B, 1038 Nanjing Rd. (w)Shanghai 200041, P. R. ChinaTel: +86 (21) 6218 2085 / 6218 2513Fax: +86 (21) 6218 1125E-mail: teah@mpoc.org.cnContact: Teah Yau Kun

MPOC Pakistan11 – 3rd Floor, Leeds CentreMain Boulevard Gulberg, 111 Lahore, PakistanTel: +92 (42) 3571 6600 / 3571 6601Fax: +92 (42) 3571 6602E-mail: faisal@mpoc.org.pkContact: Faisal Iqbal

MPOC India S-4, New Mahavir Building, Cumballa Hill Road Kemps Corner, Mumbai 400 036Tel: +91 (22) 6655 0755 / 6655 0756Fax: +91 (22) 6655 0757E-mail: bhavna@mpoc.org.inContact: Bhavna Shah

MPOC Europe Regional Office31 Avenue Emile Vendervelde1200 Brussels BelgiumTel: +32 (2) 7748 860Fax: +32 (2) 7794 371E-mail: kumar@mpoc.euContact: Uthaya Kumar

MPOC MoscowMoscow, 4th Dobrininskiy side-street,8 BC 'Dobrinya', 1st floor, Office R00-126Tel : +790 963 520 40Email: udovenko@mpoc.org.myContact: Aleksey Udovenko

MPOC Cairo3 Gamal E1-Din Afify Street, Nasir CityZone No.6, 11371 Cairo, EgyptTel: +20 (2) 2273 8108Fax +20 (2) 2273 8106E-mail: zainuddin@mpocegypt.comContact: Zainuddin Hassan

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Sunflower oil, being the indigenous oil, is the largest quantity consumed. In 2013 a total of 400,000 metric tonnes of the oil was consumed, making up 31 per cent of the total oils consumed. Palm oil consumption accounts for nearly 29 per cent of the total, but the growth seemed quite stagnant in last five years.

The annual import of oils and fats by South Africa is dependent on domestic production and the volume of oilseeds imported. In 2012, 926,800 metric tonnes of oils and fats

were imported, with the bulk of this being palm oil. In 2013, palm oil import was at 379,100 metric tonnes which accounted for 30 per cent of the country’s import, making palm oil as the largest volume among the oils imported. Malaysia is the major supplier of palm oil to South Africa, exporting about 108,000 metric tonnes in 2013. This is equivalent to nearly 29 per cent of that country’s palm oil imports. Kamal Azmi

Kamarudin, MPOC Durban

(Watch out for Part 2 in our next issue)

Port of Durban: Reachingout to Southern Africa Region

Continued from page 6

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