PALM OIL – OPIEJ https://opiej.mpob.gov.my Oil Palm Industry Economic Journal Mon, 16 Mar 2026 06:08:40 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY IN THE PALM OIL SECTOR: A BIBLIOMETRIC REVIEW USING R STUDIO https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/economic-sustainability-in-the-palm-oil-sector-a-bibliometric-review-using-r-studio/ Mon, 09 Mar 2026 05:31:49 +0000 https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/?p=2575 Read more]]> The growth of the global palm oil industry with the call to balance its significant economic contributions with pressing sustainability challenges has been a subject of debate for decades. In line with this pressing need, this study aims to examine the evolution of academic publications on economic sustainability in the palm oil industry through a bibliometric review of scholarly literature spanning from 1996 to 2025. The research analyses publication trends across different dimensions, including authorship, institutional affiliations, geographical distribution, and evolving topic trends. By assessing the trajectory of academic discourse, this study identifies key shifts from production-focused studies to research emphasising environmental impact mitigation, policy frameworks, and sustainable certification mechanisms. Findings from the review suggest that interdisciplinary collaborations have increased over time, reflecting a growing recognition of the complex interplay between economic growth and sustainability in the palm oil sector. In addition, this review highlights gaps in existing research, particularly concerning smallholder economic resilience and policy harmonisation. The study contributes to the academic and policy discourse by providing insights into future research directions that can support sustainable industry practices.

]]> UNITED STATES TARIFF SHOCKWAVES: MALAYSIA’S PALM OIL IN THE CROSSHAIRS https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/united-states-tariff-shockwaves-malaysias-palm-oil-in-the-crosshairs/ Tue, 23 Sep 2025 07:50:30 +0000 https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/?p=2489 Read more]]> This article presents an analysis on the implications of the 2025 United States (U.S.) tariffs policy introduced under President Donald Trump administration on Malaysian palm oil industry (when this article was written). It examines the multifaceted impact of the early slapped of 24% tariff by the U.S. before it was escalated to 25%, then reduced to 19% on August 2025 (after went through delicate trade negotiations and bargaining) necessitates discussion on the Malaysian exports through economic, political, and strategic lenses. The analysis reflects on the broader context of global trade tensions and protectionist trends, while also evaluating Malaysia’s policy responses and adaptive strategies. Drawing on current developments and historical parallels, the article offers a forward-looking perspective on the long-term viability and resilience of Malaysia’s palm oil industry in an increasingly uncertain trade environment.

]]> EXPLORING THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN PALM OIL AND FOOD SECURITY: A BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF LITERATURE https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/exploring-the-interplay-between-palm-oil-and-food-security-a-bibliometric-analysis-of-literature/ Thu, 20 Jun 2024 06:21:12 +0000 https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/?p=2307 Read more]]> Despite the vital role of palm oil in the global food system, academic attention to its relationship with food security remains relatively recent. This article aims to understand the relationship between food security and palm oil by employing a bibliometric analysis using Bibliometrix software to investigate publication characteristics, authorship, international collaborations, and research trends. Surprisingly, our analysis reveals that Malaysia, not Indonesia (the largest producer of palm oil), emerges as the most productive and influential country in this area of research. Most research focuses on the environmental impact of oil palm cultivation, neglecting crucial aspects like its direct influence on food security through factors like nutrition and accessibility. Furthermore, the academic discourse lacks diversity, with only a handful of authors actively engaged in exploring the palm oil-food security nexus. The analysis found that publications focus heavily on palm oil compared to other vegetable oils like soybean, rapeseed, and sunflower oils within the context of food security. This reflects the controversial position palm oil holds. Even though they play an equally important role in fulfilling global fat and oil needs, unlike palm oil, they haven’t been subjected to the same level of scrutiny. This study raises a critical concern: Are certain publications objectively addressing food security, or is there a tendency to disproportionately target highly productive oil crops like palm oil? This imbalance begs the question: Are there surface-level explanations, or are there more complex factors driving this research bias? It paves the way for future research directions, emphasizing the need for a more holistic and balanced approach to the intersection of food security and palm oil production to address global challenges effectively.

]]> WORLD PALM OIL SUPPLY FORECAST: REVIEW AND UPDATE https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/world-palm-oil-supply-forecast-review-and-update/ Fri, 08 Sep 2023 08:58:04 +0000 https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/?p=1792 Read more]]> Since the beginning of palm business in the 1960’s, world palm oil production has always shown an upward trend until the year 2019. Even though there were some occasions that made palm oil production go down, such as El Nino in the year 2015-2016, it was a temporary weather anomaly. However, this article explains that a structural, not a temporary, palm oil shortage may occur in 2-3 years. This article reviews the production data in the year 2019-2022 that was published by Minchul Suh (2020), mentioned as P.F hereinafter when the growth of the world’s palm oil production was stagnant. This article forecasts palm oil production in the year 2023-2025, by employing the age profiles of Malaysian and Indonesian oil palm plantations as well as the yield profile of oil palm. According to the methodology used in this article, even without any weather effects, the growth of palm oil production will be stagnant or can even decline until the year 2025.

 

]]> TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY OF OIL PALM PLASMA SMALLHOLDERS IN INDONESIA https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/technical-efficiency-of-oil-palm-plasma-smallholders-in-indonesia/ Tue, 21 Mar 2023 00:00:49 +0000 https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/?p=1759 Read more]]> This study examines the technical efficiency and influencing factors of oil palm production by plasma smallholders in Indonesia. The common method of analysis for this type of study is the stochastic frontier method based on the translog production function. The agricultural business household income survey (2013) of the Central Statistics Agency was used as a secondary data source where there were 2438 oil palm plasma smallholders registered in the Indonesian oil palm sector. The study found that the average value of technical efficiency of these plasma smallholders is 0.59 which means that there is room for improvements to increase it further. East Kalimantan has the highest efficiency value, compared to other provinces. Moreover, education and association memberships of smallholders, and seed quality had positive effects but the effect is negative with age of the smallholders in the oil palm sector in Indonesia. The distribution of technical efficiency level of farmers showed that only 0.94% of plasma farmers were efficient in their production. The Indonesian government should emphasize training programmes for plasma farmers to improve their efficiency in production

]]> The Impact of The European Union (EU) Renewable Energy Directive (RED II) on Palm Oil to the Malaysian Economy https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/the-impact-of-the-european-union-eu-renewable-energy-directive-red-ii-on-palm-oil-to-the-malaysian-economy/ Thu, 24 Mar 2022 08:01:18 +0000 https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/?p=1689 Read more]]> The oil palm industry has contributed significantly to the Malaysian economy and forms its agricultural industry pillar. Malaysia’s total export earnings from palm oil and other palm-based products increased significantly from only RM11.70 billion in 1996 to RM73.25 billion in 2020. The oil palm industry generates income for Malaysia and has also played a key role in improving its citizens’ quality of life. However, over the past decades, the oil palm industry has been the subject of conflicting claims, especially from the European Union (EU), which has criticised the oil palm industry’s reputation and affected the marketability of Malaysian palm oil globally. In May 2019, the EU adopted the Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/807 of 13 March 2019 supplementing Directive (EU) 2018/2001 (EU Red II) in which defines palm oil as a high indirect land-use change (ILUC) risk, therefore unsustainable feedstock for biofuel production for the EU Member States market. Consequently, the palmbased biofuel feedstock could not be counted towards the EU renewable energy targets. This study has determined the implication of EU RED II on the Malaysian economy via the input-output (I-O) analysis. The findings illustrate that the reduced palm oil export to the EU due to its plan to phase out palm oil from 2021 gradually affects the Malaysian economy and its other sub-sectors. These findings will be helpful to policymakers and industry players as reference resources to assess the influence of the anti-palm oil campaign and the EU policy measures on the Malaysian economy.

]]> Factors Contributing to China’s Intake of Palm Oil https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/factors-contributing-to-chinas-intake-of-palm-oil/ Tue, 04 Jan 2022 07:53:56 +0000 https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/?p=1677 Read more]]> China, a country with the largest population of over 1.3 billion was identified as a region with huge potential for export market. Currently, China is one of the largest palm oil importers and has shown an increasing trend over the years, with CAGR of 7.87 from 1.40 million tonnes to 6.37 million tonnes between 2000 and 2020. This translated into a scenario of a growing palm market in China. Thus, this study aims to investigate factors influencing the demand for palm oil in China using Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL). Annual time series data from 1980 to 2019 has been used for the analysis. The bound test indicates that there is a long run relationship among the studied variables. The empirical results showed that gross domestic products, both in producing and importing countries; consumer price index; palm oil consumption; the population of China; palm oil and soyabean oil prices are the significant determinants of Malaysian palm oil demand in China.

]]> Factors Influencing the Certification Process of Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) during the Preparation Phase for Independent Smallholders in Malaysia https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/factors-influencing-the-certification-process-of-malaysian-sustainable-palm-oil-mspo-during-the-preparation-phase-for-independent-smallholders-in-malaysia/ Wed, 31 Mar 2021 08:08:28 +0000 https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/?p=1548 Read more]]> The Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certification scheme serves as one of the platforms to address the concerns over issues related to environmental, social and economic impacts of the palm oil industry in Malaysia. Hence, MSPO certification has been mandatory for all palm oil operators, including smallholders, since 1 January 2020. In Malaysia, there are two types of smallholders, namely organised and independent. This study focussed on the independent smallholders. The purpose of the study is to investigate factors influencing the MSPO certification process during the preparation phase (MSPO pre-audit activities) for independent smallholders in Malaysia. The long duration of the MSPO certification process for independent smallholders caused difficulty for them to supply their fresh fruit bunches (FFB) to the palm oil mills. The results show several factors that influenced the certification process during the MSPO pre-audit activities, such as incomplete information and technical errors during application for MSPO certification, illiteracy rate and level of education of the smallholder, accessibility of the holding, and the lack of competent attending officers. The results obtained also show that the Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) advisory visit required a long time and was only completed within 37 days (29%), while issuance of the internal audit report took a much shorter time and could be completed within 4 days (3%). Based on this study, there appears to be a need to revise the existing guidelines in order to speed up the MSPO certification process for independent smallholders in Malaysia, and to support our commitment towards sustainability of the palm oil industry.

]]> The Effect of Exchange Rate on Palm Oil Exports between Malaysia and its Trading Partners https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/the-effect-of-exchange-rate-on-palm-oil-exports-between-malaysia-and-its-trading-partners/ Wed, 30 Sep 2020 06:47:07 +0000 https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/?p=1395 Read more]]> Despite the vast research on the exchange rate and trade, little is known
about the perspective of Malaysia, especially on export of agricultural
commodities. In the current situation, Malaysia is experiencing a
depreciation of the ringgit over a short-term period. Therefore, the demand
for trade is likely to change correspondingly. Theoretically, several major
factors affect the movement of export volumes; one of them is a country’s
exchange rate. Hence, the objective of this study is to investigate the effect
of exchange rate on the export of palm oil from Malaysia to its major
trading partners. The gravity model was estimated using a panel data set
for the bilateral export of palm oil, where empirical findings revealed a
negative and significant effect of the exchange rate on the export of palm
oil. It means that any depreciation in the Malaysian Ringgit will lead to
lower exports of this commodity.

Keywords: palm oil, export, exchange rate, gravity model.

]]> An Examination of Sources of Instability in Export Earnings of Malaysian Palm Oil https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/an-examination-of-sources-of-instability-in-export-earnings-of-malaysian-palm-oil/ Tue, 28 Aug 2018 14:10:12 +0000 https://opiej.mpob.gov.my/?p=308 Read more]]> Malaysian export earnings from the animal and vegetable oils and fats sector had been fluctuated in the past. The major component of this sector is obviously that of palm oil which is also highly volatile and in tandem with the total earnings from the animal and vegetable oils and fats sector. It is the aim of this article to assess the instability of the Malaysian palm oil export earnings by using one of the latest techniques in modeling called generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH). The model shows that palm oil export earnings is really instable. Sources of the instability were then sought through literature and the key determinants of the instability are prices of crude palm oil (CPO) and soyabean oil, exchange rate, palm oil export volume and production, and gross domestic products (GDP) of Malaysia’s major trading partners. These key determinants were linked in a multivariate regression model with the export earnings. Results showed that the most significant factors are prices of CPO and soyabean oil. Thus, price of palm oil had played a major role in causing the instability of the Malaysian palm oil export earnings. To stabilise the earnings, one needs to stabilise first the price of palm oil in the market which is exposed to the vagaries of market forces of supply and demand.

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