Asian Palm Oil Alliance (APOA): The apex edible oil industry associations from five palm oil importing countries in South Asia – India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal have announced the setting up of Asian Palm Oil Alliance (APOA).

Note: Globoil Summit is one of the World’s Leading Edible Oils and Agri Trade Conference, Exhibitions & Awards.

Key Highlights:

• APOA held its first general body meeting on the sidelines of the Globoil Summit being held at Agra, India.
• The Globoil Summit 2022 was held in Agra, Uttar Pradesh in India.
• 2022 marks the 25th year celebration of Globoil India.
• About 1500 attendees from 50 countries participated in the event.
• The summit was a congregation of leading players from the domestic and global edible oil trade and industry.
• The next meeting is expected to be held in Indonesia early next year 2023.

Key Points of APOA:

• Atul Chaturvedi, Director of Adani Wilmar Ltd and President of Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA), was elected as the first chairman of the alliance during the first general body meeting.
• The secretariat of the APOA would initially be managed by the SEA.
• The APOA aims to safeguard the economic and business interests of the palm oil consuming countries.
• It will work towards increasing the consumption of palm oil in member 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 alliance will serve as a platform for discussing shared issues, concerns, and aspirations of the international palm oil sector and considerably increase palm oil demand through awareness campaigns.
• Membership of APOA is expected to be further expanded to include companies or industry bodies associated with production or refining of palm oil across the continent.
• Asia currently accounts for 40 per cent of global palm oil consumption and the Europe accounts for 12 per cent of palm oil trade.

India's Palm Oil Import:

• India is the largest importer of palm oil in Asia.
• India’s annual imports of edible oil is around 13-14 million tonne (MT).
• About 8 million tonnes of palm oil comes from Indonesia and Malaysia.
• Other oils like soya and sunflower comes from Argentina, Brazil, Ukraine and Russia.
• India accounts for 15 per cent of global imports.
• India is the largest importer of palm oil in Asia, accounting for 15% of global imports, followed by China (9%), Pakistan (4%) and Bangladesh (2%).

• 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, with Indonesia producing the largest quantity at over 45 million tonnes in 2021.

What is Palm Oil?

• Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp of the fruit of the oil palms.
• The oil is used primarily for cooking in developing countries.
• It is also used in food products, detergents, cosmetics and, to a small extent, biofuel.