The Malaysian Palm Oil Industry Is on Fire in More Ways Than One

Malaysia sees palm oil as a way to power the country’s economythrough its recent sluggishness.但对石油棕榈种植园环境影响的国际批评已经将全国领先的生产者置于防御性，并且可能会限制行业的增长潜力。

Palm oil is big business for Malaysia. The country produces about 39 percent of global supply, and the commodity accounts for more than 10 percent of the nation’s economy. Much of the rest of the world’s supply— some 44 percent — is controlled by neighboring Indonesia, where Malaysian-owned companies run many of the plantations. Felda Global Ventures, the world’s largest producer of crude palm oil, went public in a $3.12 billion initial public offering in 2012, the largest IPO in the world that year after Facebook’s.

在许多方面，行业的前景很明亮。根据马来西亚棕榈油委员会，政府实体的情况下，2014年对马来西亚棕榈油的需求将于去年的5760万吨。最近价格升高，3月10日击中了18个月的高位，共2,910林吉特（885美元）每公吨。

The rise largely reflects low inventories. The effects of a drought in Malaysia during May and June 2013 are still working their way through the supply chain. Some countries, like Indonesia, are retaining more of their production for conversion into biofuels, further squeezing global supply. Expanding production is thus a key goal of policymakers seeking to combat an economic slowdown — growth eased to 4.7 percent last year from 5.6 percent in 2012 — and propel Malaysia into the ranks of the world’s high-income countries.

Increased production has sparked something of an environmental backlash, however, as planters have expanded from traditional growing areas in Peninsular Malaysia into more sensitive territory like Sarawak, a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo.

A 2013 survey published inSciencemagazine, developed in partnership with Google and its satellite mapping facility, showed that between 2002 and 2012 Malaysiahad the highest deforestation rate in the world,很大程度上因为土地被清除了油棕榈种植园。萨拉瓦克的大部分活动都是萨拉达克是部分的，已经在泥炭沼泽森林中进行，这会强调环境问题。这种森林土地需要耗尽以植物油棕榈药。“当你这样做时，泥炭开始降解并腐烂，创造比任何其他油掌相关的活动更高的碳排放量，”阿姆斯特丹总部环境组织Aidenvironment on Southeast Asia高级顾问Eric Wakker说。鉴于土壤的高水平酸性硫酸盐，排出泥炭土壤也可以将硫酸释放到空气中。

在2012年的企业环境影响的绿色排名Newsweek那Singapore-based Wilmar International, the world’s largest palm oil–refining and –processing company, came in last place走出世界500家最大的公开交易公司，在孟山都和矿业公司的煤炭印度后面。

投资者have begun to take notice. In 2012Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global,世界上最大的主权财富基金 - 最大的股权投资者 - 管理层的资产82.9亿美元，从被认为不具有可持续生产的棕榈油公司退出。他们包括威尔马尔;新加坡金色农业资源（GAR），世界第二大油棕榈种植园公司;和马来西亚的TA Ann Holdings，在沙捞越拥有广泛的控股。

The palm oil industry has moved into damage-control mode. In late February Wilmar announced that as of January 2016 it would no longer buy oil from plantations built on newly cleared peat and forest land. Explaining the move, a Wilmar spokesperson told亚博赞助欧冠that “big corporates have to lead in the drive towards sustainability.” The spokesperson emphasized that the move would not apply retroactively to land cleared before 2016 and said the company has “already begun to engage our suppliers and advised them not to conduct any new peat land clearance.”

许多非政府组织鼓掌，但它造成了当地行业的愤怒。

“如果我们不允许种植[泥炭和林地]，那么在沙捞越州田兰博士议员詹姆斯·斯普尔（Tan Sri博士）告诉记者。“如果你想植物没有森林的棕榈油，你将不得不去撒哈拉州。”

在葡萄干包括TA Ann Holdings和Sarawak Oil Palms的赛马克承诺的种植园公司的股价，威尔马尔宣布后落后，但两股股票都急剧升高。在过去一年的加密全球企业的股票在3月13日在2012年6月13日之前收取4.59林吉特的狭窄范围，截至2012年6月以上。

威尔玛的举动没有出蓝色。2004年的种植者，来自许多棕榈油生产国的供应商和政府加入了可持续棕榈油的圆桌会议。自2008年以来，RSPO已根据可持续性标准的基线认证产品。一些大棕榈油采购商，包括英荷兰语消费品公司Unilever和Kellogg，Battle Creek，Michigan谷物生产商，宣布计划仅使用可持续的棕榈油。

“Most major players will eventually be pressured to have a sustainability policy,” says Alvin Tai, plantations sector analyst with RHB Research Institute, a financial services provider in Kuala Lumpur. “In the future, practice will get much tighter on sourcing.”

GAR has also adopted a no-deforestation policy and is working closely with Greenpeace to implement a sustainability strategy. Felda Global Ventures is unlikely to suffer direct effects from Wilmar’s decision since the bulk of its estates are in Peninsular, or West, Malaysia.

一些马来西亚石油棕榈种植者在较大的生产商中也有兴趣是使用可持续性作为推动较小的土地居民的业务，有效地侵犯当地的反托拉斯法。“萨拉瓦克泥炭地区棕榈油种植者棕榈油种植者垂直安排是先发制人的和单方面，”一位未命名的RSPO成员说由马来西亚报纸引用Star。“这一贸易调查可能会妥协或侵犯”我们的反托拉斯法。

The Malaysian Palm Oil Association (MPOA), a trade association that counts among its members some of the world’s largest palm oil companies, including Felda, has been sparring for some time with the RSPO over various issues, including effluents from palm oil mills and greenhouse gas emissions.

如果小组离开RSPO，它将遵循其2011年9月离开本集团的印度尼西亚对应的Gapki。印度尼西亚人表示，该国的原油棕榈油出口没有取得足够高的价格，以证明RSPO遵守的额外费用。

“RSPO可能对某些球员变得太难，”吉隆坡CIMB投资银行分析师Ivy Ng说。“世界上棕榈油越来越大，所以你不想通过使规则太严格来扼杀增长。”如果马来西亚工业集团决定脱离其RSPO指定，个人棕榈油生产商可以独立留下成员。

这样的大买家丰益犯酸ce from newly cleared peat and forest land, the industry’s ability to expand in Southeast Asia appears constrained. There isn’t much nonpeat, nonforest land left to develop in Malaysia or Indonesia. During a 2008 press conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian plantation industries and commodities minister Peter Chin Fah Kui suggested that Malaysian growers expand elsewhere, such as in Africa or South America. Shortly before Chin made these remarks, Felda announced plans to develop a 100,000-hectare (386 square mile) oil palm plantation in Brazil’s Amazon region. Sime Darby, another major Malaysia-headquartered producer of palm oil, has established operations in Liberia during the past few years.

然而，在短期内，驾驶棕榈油市场的环境因素不是降雨，而是缺乏它。自2012年4月以来，干燥天气向其最低水平抑制了其最低水平，马来西亚的棕榈油出口在3月份前10天从一个月前10天下降了5％，达到293,879吨。如果干法术持续，产量可能会继续下降 - 推高价格 - 无论可持续性辩论如何。