https://opiej.mpob.gov.my Oil Palm Industry Economic Journal Tue, 28 Aug 2018 04:58:43 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/oil-palm-the-agricultural-producer-of-food-fibre-and-fuel-for-global-economy/ Tue, 28 Aug 2018 04:58:43 +0000 https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/?p=198 Read more]]> Oil palm industry has expanded from just an agricultural producer of edible oils and fats to fibre (material) and fuel (energy) as well for the global economy. In producing food, fibre and fuel (the 3Fs), the industry has also identified the enlarged environmental consequences that will now be involved. Arising from this, the science and technology (S&T) for the 3Fs production now falls squarely on the research and development (R&D) undertaken on land-use and land-use cover changes from forestry (LULUCF) with inclusion of the two latter products. Besides the best practices implemented to enhance the economic, environmental and social requirements, any change in the land-use pattern is prioritized with the environmental consequences identified and minimized. The S&T development in itself is not enough and must be applied together with business. It is critical that sustainability and poverty reduction remain the guiding principles for efficient use of resources, harness of intellect, and channel knowledge to benefit the rural poor and marginalized. As more plantation companies develop the potential to produce the 3Fs, there will be greater realization that both the policy and infrastructure support from the government is important. This must be accompanied by higher participation in activities by all the stakeholders over the whole value supply chain that involve the companies, industry and nation at all three levels to strengthen agricultural development to realize this 3Fs objective. The benefits of this new 3Fs approach are three-fold: firstly, greater promotion of value-addition and accomplishment of accelerated growth of agro-businesses in the food, material (fibre) and energy (fuel) subsectors. Secondly, creating more jobs in the rural sector with greater security for a fair standard of living for the smallholders and their families. Thirdly, discourage migration of people to the urban areas as the rural populace is better able to face the challenges coming from the economic liberalization and globalization resulting from more job opportunities created by the plantations and emerging agro-businesses. A total of 10 recommendations for policy refinement to enhance the 3Fs objective are discussed. They are aimed at achieving food security, fibre and fuel production by focusing on developmental and environmental consequences; continuing sustainable agriculture to improve the economic, social and environmental impacts of the companies in managing the 3Fs objective thereby hastening rural development when these new agro-businesses start to benefit not only the welfare of the people living in and around the plantations but also along the whole value chain.

]]> https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/impact-of-commercialization-of-biofuel-on-prices-of-related-commodities/ Tue, 28 Aug 2018 04:57:13 +0000 https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/?p=196 Read more]]> This paper examines the use of vegetable oils and sugar for biofuel in selected countries, as a price stabilization mechanism in the EU, USA and Brazil. Two scenarios; one before and the other after the advent of the biofuel programme were analysed for soyabean, rapeseed, sugar and corn prices. Correlations between the price and production of biofuel for the selected vegetable oils were high and showed positive relationship after commercializing of the biofuel. This means that the biofuel programme had improved the prices for the selected vegetable oils. The index from the ARCH and GARCH models were much higher and the linear trend of selected vegetable oil prices showed a downward trend prior to commercialization. However, after their use as biofuel, the index became much lower and the linear trend of selected vegetable oil prices showed an upward trend. This means that, after commercializing the biofuel, prices stabilized and slowly increased. The findings indicate that the biofuel programme can remove excess production to new uses and improve prices. Hence, it can be deduced that removal of palm oil from the market and put to new uses (biofuel) could improve palm oil price. Therefore, it is strongly suggested that Malaysia should commercialize biofuel from palm oil.

]]> https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/palm-kernel-cake-marketing-constraints-and-prospects/ Tue, 28 Aug 2018 04:53:55 +0000 https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/?p=193 Read more]]> Standardization or product specification is an important measure to ensure that only high quality product reaches the market place. The formation of palm kernel cake (PKC) trade specifications and the requirements of quality testing plus regular inspections had assured the quality of PKC was under control throughout the years. The changing preferences by customers and the advancement of technology validate the revision of such specifications. The study reviews the quality performance of PKC within its trade specifications in the previous years and the possibility of improving its quality to a higher level. Moreover, it reveals the economic significance of elevating the quality of PKC through innovative processing system that produces its raw materials i.e. palm kernel.

]]> https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/vision-2020-the-palm-oil-phenomenon/ Tue, 28 Aug 2018 04:49:09 +0000 https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/?p=187 Read more]]> Predicting the future performance of an export oriented commodity like palm oil is no easy task. The prediction has to take into account the long run past performance, resource constraints and challenges faced by the commodity at both the domestic and international fronts. This paper attempts to overview the palm oil industry; what it was in the past, its situation today and its likely development in the future.

]]> https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/palm-oil-the-driving-force-of-world-oils-and-fats-economy/ Tue, 28 Aug 2018 01:35:17 +0000 https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/?p=157 Read more]]> Palm oil accounts for 21% and 47% of the global oil and fats production and trade respectively. Both Malaysia and Indonesia together are the world’s largest producers and exporters of palm oil with 84% and 90% share of world palm oil production and export, respectively. The paper outlines the increasingly dominant role that palm oil has played in the world oils and fats supply and demand equation during the past 40 years. The ascent of palm oil as a powerhouse in the global oils and fats market has been achieved by leveraging upon the techno-economic advantages of palm oil vis-à-vis competing oils as well as positive developments arising from consumer concerns on health, environment and food security. In efforts to maintain continued market growth, the future direction of the industry relating to improving competitiveness, widening the uses of palm oil, eliminating trade barriers and exploring new innovative marketing approaches will be discussed. These positive developments augur well for palm oil in its role as the driving force of the world oils and fats economy.

]]>