RESPECTED vegetable oil analysts Thomas Mielke and Dorab Mistry have
rejected calls by green activists like Greenpeace for a moratorium on
oil palm planting in Indonesia and Malaysia.
They urged the 1,800 participants at the two-day Palm and Lauric Oils
Conference and Exhibition (POC) not to be misled by the lobbying of
green activists for a limit on the expansion of oil palm plantations.
The conference, which ended yesterday, traditionally focused on price
forecasts for palm and coconut oils. It has now taken a more holistic
approach.
“Don’t
be lulled by the lobby for a moratorium on oil palm planting. Contrary
to what Greenpeace is saying, global vegetable oil stocks are tight,”
Mielke said.
He added that the world’s burgeoning population would need more food and fuel in the years ahead.
“If there is a limit on expansion of oil palm planting, vegetable oil
prices will soar to such unreasonable levels that more poor people will
go hungry.”
Mistry, meanwhile, hinted that Greenpeace’s
selective lobby against palm oil could actually turn out to be trade
barriers disguised as environmental concerns.
“The moratorium
talk on oil palm plantings within the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm
Oil can have dangerous consequences. The industry is not yet ready …
the world is not able to expand soyabean areas and, therefore, needs
more palm oil,” Mistry said.
Source : Business Times by Ooi Tee Ching
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