Asian Palm Oil Alliance (APOA)

In news: APOA held its first general body meeting on the side-lines of the 25^th Globoil Summit being held in India.

• The next meeting of APOA is expected to be held in Indonesia early next year.

About:

• It is an edible oil trade association formed of five palm oil importing countries in South Asia – India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal
• Objective: To gain collective bargaining power, to make imports sustainable and to safeguard the economic and business interests of the palm oil consuming countries
• The alliance would work towards ensuring that palm oil is recognised as a high-quality, economical, and healthy vegetable oil and to change the negative image of palm oil.
• The association is not involved in shaping the global discourse on sustainable palm oil in a collective way.
• The membership of APOA would be further expanded to include companies or industry bodies associated with production or refining of palm oil across the continent

About Palm Oil imports:

• India’s annual imports of edible oil is around 13-14 million tonnes (MT). Around 8 MT of palm oil is imported from Indonesia and Malaysia, while other oils, such as soya and sunflower, come from Argentina, Brazil, Ukraine, and Russia.
• Asia accounts for around 40% of the global palm oil consumption while Europe accounts for 12% of palm oil trade.
• Indonesia and Malaysia are the biggest palm oil exporters in the world.
• India is the largest importer of palm oil in Asia (15% of global imports), followed by China (9%), Pakistan (4%) and Bangladesh (2%).

About Oil Palm:

• It is a humid tropical crop and thrives best in temperature ranging from 22 °C to 24 °C. They require at least 5-6 hours of bright sunshine per day and 80% of humidity for optimum growth.
• Palm oil is a very productive crop. It offers a far greater yield at a lower cost of production than other vegetable oils. It produces high-quality oil used primarily for cooking in developing countries.
• It is also used in food products, detergents, cosmetics and, to a small extent, biofuel. Many packaged products contain palm oil—such as in lipstick, soaps, detergents and even ice cream.

Source:  Financial Express