Why palm oil is synonymous with Malaysia

Palm oil was introduced in Bangladesh market in the early '70s to meet the growing demand of edible oil. Because of the good quality and also price competiveness compared to other edible oils, palm oil earned consumer's confidence very fast. But in the mid-'80s, palm oil suffered a setback. Taking the opportunity of "Open General License" (OGL), some unscrupulous businessmen imported sub-standard refined palm olein, i.e. palm oil, for more mark-up. These caused a serious dent in the perception of local consumers about the quality of palm oil.
But the reputation of palm oil as an ideal edible oil was restored in early '90s. The local edible oil refineries acquired the technical knowledge of refining of crude palm oil. These refineries, equipped with the most modern machineries, started to produce world class refined palm olein. With the introduction of double fractionated olein, which is locally known as super olein, the acceptance of palm olein among the consumers rapidly increased. In 2003, palm olein occupied the leading position among the three major edible oils namely, refined olein, refined soyabean oil and mustard oil consumed in the country. Palm olein has since been maintaining the top position among edible oils in the Bangladesh market.
IMPORT TREND OF PALM OIL: Mainly three kinds of edible oils - palm oil, soyabean oil and mustard/canola oil - are imported in Bangladesh. Palm oil and soyabean oil are imported in crude form and processed locally for onward marketing as refined palm oil, commonly known as palm oil, and refined soyabean oil. Mustard/canola seeds are imported and crushed locally to obtain oil. On an average, respective import share of these three kinds of edible oils in country's annual import quantity is 65:30:5.

Since the beginning soyabean oil is the main competitor of palm oil. The import of the latter surpassed that of the former in 2003. Since then palm oil is the leading edible oil imported and consumed in the country. Table - 1 shows the dominant position of palm oil.
Import of palm oil is increasing each year with the increase in demand. From the year 2000 to 2014 i.e. during the last 15 years, import of palm oil increased from 170,000 tonnes to 1,267,900 tonnes while that of soyabean oil increased from 511,300 tonnes to 627,900 tonnes. Import of palm oil first exceeded 1.0 million tonnes in 2009 and is now approaching 1.3 million tonnes.

CONSUMPTION TREND OF PALM OIL: In Bangladesh, palm oil i.e. palm olein is the highest consumed edible oil followed by soyabean oil and canola/mustard oil. During the last five years, palm oil had been holding a consumption share of 63-69 per cent, on an average, while soyabean oil's share was 23-29 per cent and the rest was canola/mustard oil.
Bangladesh is mainly a liquid oil market and major portion of the oils and fats consumed in the country is in the form of cooking oil. Consumption ratio of oils versus fats is about 85:15. Entire quantity of refined soyabean oil and mustard/canola oil consumed in the country is consumed in liquid form, while about 75 per cent of total palm oil consumed in the country is consumed in liquid form and rest 25 per cent consumed in the form of vanaspati/shortenings.
Note: Canola/Mustard oil figures are the oil equivalent of both imported and locally produced seeds respectively @ 38 per cent and 33 per cent.
PALM OIL'S CONTRIBUTION IN INCREASING PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION: Palm oil greatly contributed in increasing per capita consumption of oils and fats in Bangladesh. In 2000, the per capita consumption of oils and fats was 6.6 Kg, which increased to 12.5 Kg in 2014. The role of edible oils and fats in the total consumption is significant as its consumption comprises about 98 per cent of total oils and fats consumption, while that of inedible oils and fats is confined to only 2.0 per cent. Palm oil is the only edible oil which has registered a tremendous increase in consumption, while increase in consumption of other oils and fats is not significant.
Palm oil's competitive price has encouraged the rural consumers, who comprise of about 75 per cent of the country's population, to increase their consumption of cooking oils. Increase in per capita consumption of a great number of rural consumers has contributed to increase per capita consumption at the national level.
 As the price of palm oil is within the affordable range of the majority population living in rural areas and also of low-income groups of people living in sub-urban/urban areas, they are consuming more oils and fats than before. Now they are getting more calories and nutrition as well through consumption of palm oil, which has remarkable nutritional attributes.
PROSPECT OF PALM OIL: Since the beginning of the 21st century, Bangladesh has proved to be a very potential and prospective market for palm oil. Its import and consumption is steadily increasing each year.
Competitive price of palm oil, economic uptrend in the country, population growth, increase of income, especially in rural areas, almost stagnant local production of edible oils, urbanisation, upgradation of food standard and growth of food processing industries are the driving forces behind increase in demand for edible oil in the country.
With the increase of income, rural people are upgrading their food standard. They are inclining towards foods which require more edible oils and fats for their preparation. This is contributing to increase in per capita consumption of oils and fats in rural areas where palm oil is the preferred edible oil. Table - 4 provides a projection of the import of palm oil in the country up to 2020 at average growth rate.
MALAYSIA'S ROLE IN POPULARISING PALM OIL IN BANGLADESH: To the people of Bangladesh, palm oil is synonymous with Malaysia as it played the main role in popularising palm oil in the Bangladesh market. Malaysia used to send palm oil market mission regularly since the early '90s and later opened Malaysian Palm Oil Council's Office in Dhaka to intensify promotional programmes targeting various segments of consumers to increase awareness about palm oil. Besides, Malaysia is also supporting the local refining industries through familiarising them with modern refining technology. In the past, Malaysia was the leading supplier of palm oil to the country but eventually it has been replaced by other sources because of competitive price. However, Malaysia is still the leading supplier of palm oil products and palm-based oleochemicals in the Bangladesh.  
The writer is Regional Manager of Malaysian Palm Oil Council, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and responsible for Bangladesh and Nepal market. [email protected].