The passage discusses key issues facing palm oil in the EU market, specifically as a food ingredient. It notes that anti-palm oil campaigns in France and Belgium have pushed some food manufacturers to label products as "palm oil free", despite this not being a legal requirement. These campaigns aim to portray palm oil negatively and convince consumers to avoid products containing it. Two factors driving the campaigns are upcoming changes to EU labeling rules that will require specific oils to be listed, and appeal of "free from" labeling. The campaigns may cause palm oil to be progressively abandoned as an ingredient in the EU.

1. Introduction
During the last few years, palm oil has
been facing a number of complex issues
in the European Union (hereinafter, the
EU), which remains an important market
not only commercially, but also as a
trend-setter for many of the regulatory
and non-governmental initiatives that
have the ability to seriously affect palm
oil‟s marketability and the conditions of
competition with other vegetable oils.
These issues can be divided, for ease of
review and discussion, on the basis of the
main industrial applications of palm oil: as
a food ingredient and as a biofuel. In turn,
each of these areas of market dynamics
must be reviewed on the basis of the type
of actors involved and the key issues that
palm oil is confronted with. This article
aims at providing a review of these issues
and indicating the actions that MPOC has
already undertaken or that may be
warranted in order to safeguard the
interests of the palm oil industry.
Palm oil as a food ingredient
The main EU development that, over the
last few years, has been of great concern
to the palm oil industry is the string of
anti-palm oil campaigns that have been
waged by a number of EU producers and
distribution chains. In particular, these
actions have been directed against palm
oil used in the food sector. Much of this is
being driven by campaigns originating in
France and undertaken in the French
language. Such actions are progressively
pushing several food manufacturers to
label their food packages as ‘palm oil
free’, although such information is not
required by law and, inasmuch as it is a
nutritional claim, also not permitted and
arguably illegal under EU and French
law.
The ‘palm oil free’ campaigns being
conducted by a number of French
retailers are de facto ‘forcing’
manufacturers to make such claims on
the labels of their products. This may
result in the progressive abandoning of
palm oil as a food ingredient, with an aura
of negative attributes being cast on palm
oil in general among EU consumers.
These private marketing and labelling
campaigns have taken hold, especially in
France and to a lesser degree in
Belgium, primarily because of two
factors:
1) the imminent changes to EU labelling
rules of vegetable oils used in food
products; and
2) the appeal that these ‘negative labels’
have in the minds of EU consumers
and, hence, the use and abuse made
by some unscrupulous market
operators.
The imminent changes, in terms of the
labelling of the different vegetable oils as
ingredients in foodstuffs, are those
brought about by Regulation (EU) No.
1169/2011 of the European Parliament
and of the Council of 25 October 2011 on
the provision of food information to
consumers (known as the ‘Food
Information Regulation’, hereinafter,
FIR), which are due to apply across the
EU as of 13 December 2014. The FIR
was not adopted to target any particular
vegetable oil, but it provides (in relevant
MPOC FORTUNE
MALAYSIAN PALM OIL COUNCIL KKDN PP 14669/05/2013 (032704) VOL: 5 2014
®
DIRECTOR
Faudzy Asrafudeen Sayed Mohamed
faudzy@mpoc.org.my
MANAGERS
Muhammad Kharibi Zainal Ariffin
kharibi@mpoc.org.my
Mohd Izham Hassan
izham@mpoc.org.my
MARKET ANALYSTS
Asia Pacific Lim Teck Chaii
(China) lim@mpoc.org.my
Asia Pacific Mohd Hafezh Bin Abdul Rahman
(Excl. China) mhafezh@mpoc.org.my
South Asia Fatimah Zaharah Md Nan
fatimah@mpoc.org.my
Middle-East Mohamad Suhaili Hambali
msuhaili@mpoc.org.my
Africa Nor Iskahar Nordin
iskahar@mpoc.org.my
Europe Azriyah Azian
azriyah@mpoc.org.my
Americas Mohd Izham Hassan
izham@mpoc.org.my
MARKETING & MARKET
DEVELOPMENT DIVISION
For more information, please contact
Tel : 603 - 7806 4097 Fax: 603 - 7806 2272
Continued on page 7
“Palm Oil and
EU Market:
Key Issues and
Actions by MPOC”
Part 1 of 2

3. MPOC FORTUNE • 3
MARKETInsightsIns g
Continued on page 6
PALM Oil trade at the Port of Durban has
registered a steady increase since early
80’s. In recent years, palm oil products
unloaded in this port has experienced
significant growth, particularly in 2005
onward. In 2013, palm trade registered
380,000 metric tonnes and Malaysia
Palm oil imports take up more than 40 per
cent of this traffic. The constant increase
in the palm oil trade has moved the Port
of Durban to attract an even higher
volume of this traffic.
Factors favouring Port of Durban
There are a number of factors that make
Port of Durban most suitable as the
distribution hub for palm oil exports to
Southern African countries. Perhaps the
most important reason is that Port of
Durban is located at the confluence of
maritime routes to Asia, Europe, and
South America.
The port of Durban is located at the
crossroads of one of the busiest shipping
routes the world, linking the Far East,
Africa and Europe. Durban’s strategic
location enabled the port authorities to
successfully rise to the challenge of the
turning the port into a regional hub for the
Indian Ocean and Atlantic Ocean in a
wider context the four continents of
Europe, Africa, Asia and South America.
This expanding shipping hub is located in
one of the busiest maritime trade routes
in the world. Furthermore, this country
enjoys political stability and economic
growth which provides privileged access
to a large market base of Southern
African Community (SADC).
It is also the busiest port in South Africa
and has become one of the main
re-export points for products destined to
other neighboring landlocked countries in
Southern Africa such as Botswana and
Zimbabwe. One of the many features this
Source: Trade Estimates
500,000
400,000
350,000
300,000
250,000
200,000
150,000
100,000
50,000
0
450,000
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Chart1: Palm oil - Traffic Evolution
Palm oil
Port of Durban:
Reaching out to
Southern Africa Region
This key port occupies at vital crossroads on the
trade routes between East and West, at the tip of
Africa is also suited to take advantage of the
growing maritime trade between the growing
economics of South America and Asia.
Part 1 of 2

4. North Port, Port Klang
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- Fimachem Sdn Bhd
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Butterworth
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Jalan Parang, 2nd Extension, North Port, 42000 Port Klang, Selangor, MALAYSIA
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Facilities available :
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Malaysia’s Largest Independent
Common-user Multi-purpose Liquid
Bulk Terminal Operator

5. MPOC FORTUNE • 5
Continued on page 9
One of the countries in the Central and
Eastern Europe (CEE), Bulgaria has
become one of the most important
Malaysian Palm Oil (MPO) importers in
the region. According to MPOB data,
MPO export to Bulgaria in 2013 was
recorded at 9,947 MT, more than any
other countries in the region that include
Romania, Poland and new EU member
state, Croatia.
Bulgaria is one of the emerging market
economies in the world where the private
sector accounts for more than 80% of the
country’s GDP. Agriculture is one of the
important and most promising sectors.
The country enjoys admirable natural
conditions for developing the agriculture
and forestry sector. Cultivated
agricultural land occupies about 4.9
million hectares or 44% of the total
territory of the country. The favourable
climate for crop production and the
availability of agricultural land and long
traditions have resulted in
well-developed plant growing and animal
breeding. Low labour costs and the
high-schools and colleges offering
training in modern farming and animal
breeding add to the existing advantages.
Traditionally, Bulgaria has had a leading
position in exports of grapes, oriental
tobacco, tomatoes, apricots and other
agricultural products to European
markets. Among the main crops
produced are tomatoes, pepper, tobacco,
grapes, wheat, maize, beans, potato,
sunflower, peaches, apricots, apples,
melons, and nuts. Other traditions in the
agriculture sector include sheep, pig and
cattle breeding, poultry farming and
bee-keeping.
Bulgaria is also one of the major
producers of sunflower seed and
sunseed oil among the CEE countries
besides Hungary and Romania.
Crushings were at the highest level in 5
years when a total of 529,700 MT of
oilseeds were crushed in 2012. 475,000
MT or 90% of the crushings was for
sunflower seed.
Domestic sunflowerseeds are traded
within the EU member states. In 2013,
Bulgaria exported most of its
sunflowerseed to Portugal, the
Netherlands and Spain. Trade with third
countries include high sunflowerseed
export to Turkey and other parts of
Europe namely Norway, Serbia &
Montenegro, Macedonia and
Bosnia-Herzegovina. Some of the
sunflowerseeds were also exported to
the US. Rapeseed is also another
oilseed exported. Major trading rapeseed
partners in the EU include Romania,
Portugal, Belgium and France while a
significant amount of rapeseed was also
exported to Turkey in 2013.
Sunflower oil is the main vegetable oil
produced in the oils and fats sector. In
2013, 241,000 MT of sunflower oil was
produced, a growth of 63% from only
148,000 MT recorded back in 2008.
Larger planting and harvested areas as
well as improved yields per hectare have
contributed to the greater sunflowerseed
outputs over the years. Rapeseed oil saw
its production on the rise to 25,000 MT in
2013 compared to only 9,000 MT
produced in 2008. Bulgaria has
maintained its production of lard with an
average of 25,600 MT produced annually
since 6 years ago. Other oils and fats
such as corn oil, butter as fat, soybean oil
and cotton oil sum up the country’s total
production.
MARKETInsightsIns g
Table 1: MPO Exports to CEE Countries (Jan-Dec 2012-2013) - MT
Country 2013 2012
Bulgaria 9,947 10,246
Croatia 6,015 6,221
Czech Republic 89 158
Estonia 516 283
Hungary 111 508
Latvia 258 235
Lithuania 7 262
Poland 1,041 619
Romania 7,207 4,947
Slovakia 5 0
Slovenia 432 255
Total CEE Region 25,628 23,734
Source: MPOB
Bulgaria -
A Gateway For
Palm Oil In
Central and
Eastern Europe

6. 6 • MPOC FORTUNE
port is the excellent railway network and
roads which connects Durban to the rest
of South Africa and also the neigbouring
countries. Durban is the main discharge
port for oils and fats in South Africa.
There are also other ports which cater for
oils and fats discharge such as Cape
Town and East London on a smaller
scale. However, there is no tank facility at
Cape Town and the oil is discharged
directly into lorry tankers for distribution.
The largest concentration of tank farms in
South Africa is situated at the port of
Durban and operated by independent
companies. The largest independent tank
farm at Durban is owned by Island View
Storage (Pty) Ltd. According to IVS, the
total storage capacity for heated oils and
fats including palm oil products is
estimated at 100,000 tonnes. Discharge
of palm oil is usually at berths 2 and 4
where the water depth is about 10.6
metres. The normal discharge rate is
about 100-120 tonnes per hour.
Oils & fats in South Africa
Palm Oil is not new in South Africa and
other parts of Southern Africa region and
is a growing market for palm oil and palm
kernel oil. The bulk of the palm oil
products are imported from Malaysia and
Indonesia. Unilever is the largest
consumer of palm products in South
Africa estimated at 150,000 MT per
annum. The major contributing factors
which enhanced palm oil trade are:
i) Price competitiveness of palm oil
ii) Inherent functional properties
iii) Suitability for deep frying and solid
fats/confectionery, fats/soap
manufacture
iv) Availability of suitable port storage
and inland haulage facilities for
handling palm oil products.
South Africa is one of the largest
importers of oils and fats in Sub-Sahara
Africa. Local supply of oils and fats is
unable to meet requirements due to
limited crop size. Its average annual
output is about 575,000 metric tonnes of
oils and fats meets about 44 per cent of
the domestic requirement. In 2013, only
555,000 metric tonnes of oils and fats
were produced while consumption was
recorded at 1.3 million metric tonnes. Oils
and fats production witnessed a
moderate growth of three per cent per
annum during the last five years.
Port of Durban: Reaching
out to Southern Africa Region
The Sea Port of Durban with capacity of 2.9 million Twenty Foot Equivalents (TEUs).
In medium term the capacity can be increased to 5.0 million upon construction of
additional five new container berths, from current 46 berths. Durban allows
maximum clearance of 16 meter for loaded vessel in ideal condition. Durban handled
about 70 % of South Africa’s containers. The long term development of the dig-out
port allows for a total of 16 new containers, four liquid bulk berths and three car
terminal berths with their respective back of quay operational areas and road and rail
connections.
Continued from page 3
MARKETInsightsIns g
Privately operated liquid bulk terminal of Port of Durban handled the majority of liquid
bulk volumes includes oils and fats. The new Durban Dig-out Port will be provide
extra handling capacity with new berths and tanks farmed planned.
Continued on page 12

7. MPOC FORTUNE • 7
part) that the specific vegetable oil(s)
used in any given food product must be
indicated in the labelling of the package
as of the said date. In simple terms, the
FIR will soon no longer allow that the
neutral category of ‘vegetable oils’ be
used for any vegetable oil without
specifying the specific oil(s), such as
palm oil, present in any food product. The
application of the new labelling regime
was delayed until 13 December 2014 in
order to allow time for producers to adjust
their labels.
By targeting palm oil with the ‘no palm oil’
or ‘palm oil free’ marketing and labelling
campaigns, the commercial operators
that are waging them intend to denigrate
palm oil and convince as many
consumers as possible that palm oil is
bad, for either nutritional or
environmental reasons, or for both. Their
assumption is that, once the new FIR
labelling requirements will come into play,
many consumers will no longer purchase
products that contain palm oil. This also
has an evil, but somewhat astute,
marketing appeal in that consumers are
increasingly prone to believe that
products that are ‘low in’ or ‘free from’ are
better, healthier and to be preferred over
those that have the targeted ingredients
(inter alia, fat, sugar, allergens,
preservatives, but now also, disturbingly,
ingredients like palm oil).
From a legal perspective, these
campaigns appear to be, at best,
deceptive or unsubstantiated
generalisations and, at worst, fraudulent
in nature and aimed at denigrating
competing oils and/or promoting certain
products by implying that whatever is
used as an ingredient is better, healthier
or environmentally greener than what is
not used. When made in a nutritional
context, these ‘palm oil free’ labels are
arguably not approved by the EU and,
therefore, to be considered as illegal
nutrition claims under Regulation (EC)
No. 1924/2006 of the European
Parliament and of the Council on nutrition
and health claims made on foods and/or
as misleading and deceptive claims
under Directive 2000/13/EC and
Directive 2006/114/EC of the European
Parliament and of the Council concerning
misleading and comparative advertising.
Similarly, the environmental allegations
hinted at by some of these ‘palm oil free’
logos are always unsubstantiated
generalisations in that not all the palm oil
contained in a specific product and being
discouraged or denigrated with the
negative labels is (or can be proved to
be) environmentally unsustainable.
By soon making it compulsory that the oil
origin be specified (so that a consumer
can make an informed choice in the
selection of food products), a mere look
at the list of ingredients will tell
consumers whether a product contains a
specific vegetable oil or not. ‘Palm oil
free’ labelling campaigns directly on the
product packaging must, therefore, be
seen not only as illegal or deceptive (as
argued above), but also unnecessary as
of 13 December 2014, since any
consumer will be able to tell what
vegetable oil is present or not in any food
product. There will be no need to use
these dubious ‘palm oil free’ campaigns
in order to ‘help’ consumers make
informed choices. However, it is possible
(and perhaps even likely, given the
‘hidden agendas’ that these campaigns
pursue) that such harmful and misleading
information campaigns, based on the
skilful use of ‘free-from’ labels, may still
be addressed at consumers.
Authorities and commercial operators
need to closely scrutinise the market and
challenge these anti-competitive
practices. The expectation is that EU
authorities and EU Member States will
continue to take labelling seriously and,
while they impose costly new rules on
producers, they also ensure that
consumers are not misled by astute
marketing techniques that have no
informative agenda, but simply aim at
denigrating certain vegetable oils in order
to promote others or to convince
consumers that what is ‘free-from’ a
certain oil is a better product. It is with
these commercial and legal
considerations in mind that MPOC has
engaged, over the last year and a half, in
a series of legal actions, primarily in
France, in order to fight these damaging
‘palm oil free’ campaigns and defend the
good name and reputation of palm oil.
Actions have been taken in France at the
administrative level before the competent
provincial-level authorities (known as
Departmental Directorates for the
Protection of Populations, or DDPPs in
the French acronym) and with the
central-level authority (known as
Directorate General for Competition,
Consumption and Repression of Fraud of
the French Ministry of Finance, or
DGCCRF in the French acronym), which
are in charge of safeguarding
competition, protecting consumers and
combating commercial frauds.
Administrative complaints have been
lodged against 5 French companies that
have been resorting to ‘no palm oil’ labels
on many of their food products: Findus,
Lay’s, Jacquet, Frial and Casino. The
procedures and lengthy discussions held
with the French administrative
authorities, especially the DGCCRF,
have resulted in internal instructions sent
by DGCCRF to the provincial-level
DDPPs that actions should be taken on
the market when ‘palm oil free’ labels are
used by producers or retailers within a
nutritional context.
That is a major victory for MPOC and a
shift in approach by the French
authorities that have essentially
recognized that, when ‘palm oil free’
“Palm Oil and EU Market:
Key Issues and Actions by MPOC”
Continued from page 1
MARKETInsightsIns g
Continued on page 10

9. MPOC FORTUNE • 9
Bulgaria - A Gateway For Palm Oil
In Central and Eastern Europe
Sunflower oil is also a major export for
Bulgaria. In 2013, it accounts for 72% of
total domestic production of oils and fats,
a growth of 46% from a year ago. Key
destinations of Bulgarian sunflower oil
are the EU countries, with other export
destinations being Macedonia, Egypt
and Turkey. Rapeseed oil is also
exported with major recipients within the
EU. In 2013, 23,400 MT of rapeseed oil
was exported compared to 14,100 MT
registered in 2012.
Palm Oil in Bulgaria
To complement domestic requirements in
the oils and fats sector, Bulgaria imported
a total of 99,000 MT of oils and fats in
2013, slightly lower than 106,000 MT
imported a year earlier. Palm oil is the
main imported vegetable oil and second
most consumed oils and fats in the
country after sunflower oil. The demand
for palm oil and its derivative products
continues to increase from year to year
leading to the boost in the import figures.
In 2013, palm oil import into Bulgaria
reached 49,000 MT, accounting for 49%
of total imports. This was an increase of
14% from 43,000 MT of palm oil that was
imported in 2012.
Based on Oil World data, in 2013 palm oil
imports into Bulgaria were at 48,700 MT,
an increase of 14% from 2012. Palm oil
into Bulgaria was mostly imported from
Greece at 18,900 MT, followed by
Indonesia with 15,700 MT. The data also
shows that 9,000 MT of palm oil imported
into Bulgaria was from Malaysia (the
MPOB figures are 9,947 MT). The main
palm oil products exported to Bulgaria
from Malaysia in 2013 were RBD palm oil
and RBD palm olein. Other palm
products exported to Bulgaria from
Malaysia include palm kernel oil,
oleochemicals (soap noodles) and
finished products (shortening). Some of
the tonnages of palm oil in Bulgaria were
also re-exported according to Oil World,
notably to the neighbouring Romania.
According to the RSPO website, a
leading company in Greece
manufactures vegetable and other
specialty fats most of which have palm oil
as the raw material. It also operates in
the Balkan Peninsula, with two factories,
one of which located in Bulgaria. The
company is reportedly exporting their
products in all Balkan countries including
Bulgaria. It also shares the common
borders with Greece and shores on the
Black Sea which could explain the
amount of palm oil coming from Greece
into Bulgaria.
Table 2: Crushings and Trade (with 3rd countries) of Oilseeds (1000 T)
2013E 2012 2011 2010 2009
Crushings
Soybeans 7.0 2.1 6.9 15.5 5.1
Cottonseed 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.5 1.0
Sunflowerseed 480.0 475.0 405.0 360.0 415.0
Rapeseed 55.0 52.0 38.0 36.1 38.3
Total 542.5 529.7 450.6 412.1 459.5
Imports
Soybeans 4.0 0.1 1.8 0.1 0.1
Groundnuts 5.9 6.1 4.8 5.9 5.7
Sunflowerseed 7.0 5.7 7.8 11.4 8.8
Linseed 0.5 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.2
Total 17.4 12.2 14.7 17.7 14.8
Exports
Sunflowerseed 112.0 148.5 220.7 166.0 388.5
Rapeseed 49.0 49.8 36.8 42.3 23.4
Total 161.0 198.2 257.6 208.3 411.9
Source: Oil World and MPOC Estimates
Continued from page 5
MARKETInsightsIns g
Continued on page 11
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
350
250
300
200
150
100
50
0
Others
Lard
RSO
SFO
(1000MT)
Source: Oil World
Chart 1: Sunflower oil is the major oil produced in Bulgaria

10. 10 • MPOC FORTUNE
labels are used to imply (lower or
negative) nutritional attributes of products
containing palm oil or, vice-versa, the
healthier nutritional attributes of products
that do not contain palm oil as an
ingredient, that label is to be intended as
a nutritional claim and, and such, illegal in
that it is not expressly approved by EU
law. At the administrative level, it is now
necessary to ‘police’ the commercial
practices of these and other operators
and file new complaints if the labels used
appear to be partly or wholly nutritional in
nature.
The problem, of course, is that many of
these ‘palm oil free’ labels are not entirely
nutritional in nature (i.e., some are only
partly so or impliedly so, by reference to
nutritional information or allegations
made on other media, such as
advertisements in retail points, websites,
leaflets, YouTube initiatives, etc.) and
some are (also or only) environmental in
nature. The best example of these
complex and multifaceted campaigns are
those that have been waged by French
supermarket chain Casino, which uses a
wide variety of techniques, has placed
‘palm oil free’ labels on over 350 products
and has singled-out palm oil as the target
of a systematic marketing campaign
aimed at denigrating palm oil and, in the
process, sell more of its products as a
green and health-conscious
supermarket. For that reason, and in
order to get clear interpretative language
by means of a judicial decision from a
French Court, MPOC has lodged a
judicial complaint before the Tribunal de
Commerce (i.e., the Commercial Court)
of Paris against Casino. The case filed is
legally complex and extensive in scope.
Despite the slow pace of French justice
and some procedural setbacks relating to
the standing of the MPOC before French
Courts, the substance of the MPOC’s
legal challenge and arguments is strong
and a positive outcome is expected. If so,
the scope of these ‘palm oil free’ labelling
campaigns will be severely limited and
the palm oil industry will be able to use
this ruling to ‘educate’ French consumers
about the environmental, nutritional and
commercial realities of palm oil.
A similar process of ‘education’ is
warranted also vis-à-vis many EU
politicians, regulators and
decision-makers, both at EU level and
within individual EU Member States,
where recent developments indicate a
lack of correct understanding about the
palm oil industry or a set of ‘hidden
agendas’ that may result in policies or
measures that would be highly
detrimental and discriminatory to palm
oil. Examples, in recent times, of these
worrying legislative or regulatory
developments are the so-called French
proposal for a ‘Nutella tax’ (that in 2012
and 2013 aimed at increasing taxation of
palm oil from around €100 per metric
tonne to €400 in order to discourage the
use of a product that the French Senators
proposing the tax considered
environmentally and nutritionally
dangerous), similar legislative initiatives
proposed in Belgium, and other
behavioural or ‘sin’ taxes that are
increasingly being promoted in a number
of EU countries (again, as late as
February 2014, in France, where two
Senators tabled a new study indicating
the merits of taxation increases with
respect to oils such as palm oil, palm
kernel oil and coconut oil for their
nutritional dangers).
The term “behavioural taxation”
designates the use of taxation to
encourage behaviours that are
considered beneficial for public health.
This term has been used to refer to
governmental action in the area of
tobacco control, as well as to discourage
consumption of certain foodstuffs, such
as saturated fats, trans fats, high-sugar
or fatty products, but increasingly also
soft drinks, confectionery, fast foods and
now also some specific ingredients that
are being singled-out and targeted as
allegedly and inherently dangerous.
MPOC has been active in monitoring
these developments and in taking swift
action to partake in the legislative and
regulatory discussions being held in
Parliament and among Government
authorities in order to fend off these
alarming proposals. Letters have been
sent to the relevant stakeholders and, so
far, the French Government has
responsibly decided not to adopt such
measures to pursue what may otherwise
be a legitimate policy (i.e., combating
increasing obesity and protecting the
health of consumers). However, these
important objectives cannot be achieved
by singling-out and targeting specific
ingredients or vegetable oils per se, such
as palm oil, palm kernel oil and coconut
oil, or end products such as Nutella,
which contain palm oil. The French
Government knows that such
behavioural tax targeting (de facto, if not
de jure) specific imported products (like
palm oil) would likely be WTO
inconsistent and, therefore, too
dangerous to adopt. MPOC will continue
‘policing’ this regulatory front and
intervene as necessary to ensure that the
debate remains based on science, not
influenced by ‘hidden agendas’ that have
little to do with the protection of
consumers’ health, and that the
measures adopted (if any) are
non-discriminatory and both EU and
WTO consistent.
In light of this overall objective and of the
type of legislative and regulatory
developments and proposals that are
increasingly occurring within the EU,
MPOC has also embarked on a number
of ‘soft’ initiatives aimed at ‘educating’ EU
regulators, legislators and
decision-makers with respect to palm oil.
Academic and legal publications are, for
instance, being sponsored to discuss the
issue of ‘negative labelling’, which
appears poorly regulated at EU level and
often allowing market operators to adopt
marketing techniques that are
fundamentally based on deception and/or
unsubstantiated generalizations, if not
actual fraud, in order to promote certain
products by denigrating others. This must
not be allowed and clearer rules and
procedures must be defined at EU level
and uniformly applied throughout the EU
market by EU Member States’
authorities. Similar actions are being
sponsored within the framework of ad
hoc specialised conferences and
university seminars, so that these issues
can be discussed and advanced within
the confines of academia and among
scholars, away from the pressures and
controversies of more commercial
contexts.
These issues are also of extreme
importance to many other sectors, in that
they are ‘horizontal issues’ of good
regulation that stand to affect many other
commercial and industrial interests. The
palm oil industry stands a better chance
to address and resolve some of these
disturbing developments if it works in
cooperation with other actors, many of
which are Europeans or EU-based which
have similar systemic concerns and
objectives. Kumar, MPOC Brussels
(Watch out for Part 2 in our next issue)
“Palm Oil and
EU Market:
Key Issues and
Actions by MPOC”
Continued from page 7
MARKETInsightsIns g

11. MPOC FORTUNE • 11
250
200
150
100
50
0
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
(1000MT)
Others
SBO
Lard
RSO
PO
SFO
Source: Oil World
Chart 2: Palm Oil Is The Second Most Consumed Oils
and Fats After Sunflower Oil
Bulgaria - A Gateway For Palm Oil
In Central and Eastern Europe
Continued from page 9
MARKETInsightsIns g
Marketing Malaysian Palm Oil in
Bulgaria
Good opportunities in Bulgarian
agriculture sector exist in the creation of
production chains through a combination
of selected companies in clusters
covering primary sector, processing,
sales and distribution. A crucial
advantage of the sector is the presence
of well-established food research and
development institutions. Within Bulgaria
a special EU support program
(SAPARD), provides 50% investment
subsidy for investment projects in
agriculture. However, the country faces a
shortage of labour in the agriculture
sector. The average age of Bulgarian
farmers is 58 years old. Only about 2.4
per cent of the recent university
graduates have degrees in agronomy,
veterinary sciences and related courses.
The main palm oil products imported into
Bulgaria are palm olein in drums for
blending with sunflower oil and bottling
for retail sales as well as palm
shortening. Although a member of the
European Union, unlike its much
developed Western Europe
counterparts, the image of palm oil in
Bulgaria is relatively good. There does
not seem to be much concern about
saturated fats and much interest has
been developed over the years on palm
oil products especially red palm olein.
Food security has been emphasised in
Bulgaria’s agriculture and food sectors.
The Government has underlined four
major pillars in meeting its target on food
security; availability (including
productivity), accessibility (including
affordable prices for all people),
utilisation (including quality and food
safety) and sustainability. The present
Bulgarian Government has implemented
a simple business administration to
facilitate small to medium enterprises.
This opens the doors to many
opportunities to develop more concrete
business co-operations between local
companies and overseas’ counterparts,
such as market expansion for agricultural
products and collaboration in research
and technology.
The future of palm oil in Bulgaria is fairly
good and looks promising. Palm oil
certainly has the advantage to fulfil the
four pillars in meeting the food security
target set by Bulgarian Government. Oil
palm yield has the highest land
productivity than any other competing
oilseeds including sunflower making it a
sustainable crop. Palm oil’s continuous
supply makes it readily available to the
consumers. This presents the
opportunities to Malaysian Palm Oil
players in a form of a joint venture (JV)
with local partner. Collaborations could
include potential blending of palm oil with
sunflower oil and marketing of palm olein
in opaque bottles. This was proven a
success in the neighbouring country,
Romania. MPOC offers assistance to
Malaysian palm oil players who are
interested in this type of joint venture.
Azriyah Azian, MPOC HQ
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
(1000MT)
Source: Oil World
Chart 3: Palm oil is the most imported oils and fats
Others
RSO
SBO
SFO
PO
120
100
80
60
40
20
0

12. MPOC
Offices
Worldwide
Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC)
2nd Floor Wisma Sawit
Lot 6, SS 6, Jalan Perbandaran
47301 Kelana Jaya, Selangor
Tel: 603-7806 4097
Fax: 603-7806 2272
www.mpoc.org.my
American Palm Oil Council
1010 Wisconsin Av, Suite 307
Washington DC 20007
Tel: +1 (202) 333 0661
Fax: +1 (202) 333 0331
www.americanpalmoil.com
E-mail: Ahmad Fadzli Abd Aziz
Contact: fad.aziz@americanpalmoil.com
MPOC Africa Regional Office
5 Nollsworth Crescent, Nollsworth Park
La Lucia Ridge Office Estate,
La Lucia 4051, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Tel: +27 (31) 5666 171
Fax: +27 (31) 5666 170
E-mail: kazmi@mpoc.org.za
Postal Address:
P.O.Box 1591
M.E.C.C. 4301, South Africa
Contact: Kamal Azmi
MPOC Bangladesh
62-63 Motijheel Commercial Area,
7th Floor, Amin Court Building,
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Tel: +88 (02) 9571 216
Fax: +88 (02) 9551 836
E-mail: fakhrul@mpoc.org.bd
Contact: Fakhrul Alam
MPOC Shanghai
Shanghai Westgate Mall Co. Ltd.
Room 1610B, 1038 Nanjing Rd. (w)
Shanghai 200041, P. R. China
Tel: +86 (21) 6218 2085 / 6218 2513
Fax: +86 (21) 6218 1125
E-mail: teah@mpoc.org.cn
Contact: Teah Yau Kun
MPOC Pakistan
11 – 3rd Floor, Leeds Centre
Main Boulevard Gulberg, 111 Lahore, Pakistan
Tel: +92 (42) 3571 6600 / 3571 6601
Fax: +92 (42) 3571 6602
E-mail: faisal@mpoc.org.pk
Contact: Faisal Iqbal
MPOC India
S-4, New Mahavir Building, Cumballa Hill Road
Kemps Corner, Mumbai 400 036
Tel: +91 (22) 6655 0755 / 6655 0756
Fax: +91 (22) 6655 0757
E-mail: bhavna@mpoc.org.in
Contact: Bhavna Shah
MPOC Europe Regional Office
31 Avenue Emile Vendervelde
1200 Brussels Belgium
Tel: +32 (2) 7748 860
Fax: +32 (2) 7794 371
E-mail: kumar@mpoc.eu
Contact: Uthaya Kumar
MPOC Moscow
Moscow, 4th Dobrininskiy side-street,
8 BC 'Dobrinya', 1st floor, Office R00-126
Tel : +790 963 520 40
Email: udovenko@mpoc.org.my
Contact: Aleksey Udovenko
MPOC Cairo
3 Gamal E1-Din Afify Street, Nasir City
Zone No.6, 11371 Cairo, Egypt
Tel: +20 (2) 2273 8108
Fax +20 (2) 2273 8106
E-mail: zainuddin@mpocegypt.com
Contact: Zainuddin Hassan
MPOC Istanbul
Guzel Konutlar Sitesi
Dilek Apartment Daire 3
Balmumcu, Besiktas - Istanbul, Turkey
Tel: +90 (212) 2668234
Fax +90 (212) 2668236
E-mail: Muhamad Suhaili Hambali
Contact: msuhaili@mpoc.org.myPublisher: Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC)
2nd Floor Wisma Sawit, Lot 6, SS 6,
Jalan Perbandaran, 47301 Kelana Jaya, Selangor
Printed by: Aktiara Corporation Sdn Bhd
1 & 3, Jalan TPP 1/3, Taman Industri Puchong
Batu 12, 47160 Puchong, Selangor
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Sunflower oil, being the indigenous oil, is the
largest quantity consumed. In 2013 a total of
400,000 metric tonnes of the oil was
consumed, making up 31 per cent of the total
oils consumed. Palm oil consumption
accounts for nearly 29 per cent of the total,
but the growth seemed quite stagnant in last
five years.
The annual import of oils and fats by South
Africa is dependent on domestic production
and the volume of oilseeds imported. In
2012, 926,800 metric tonnes of oils and fats
were imported, with the bulk of this being
palm oil. In 2013, palm oil import was at
379,100 metric tonnes which accounted for
30 per cent of the country’s import, making
palm oil as the largest volume among the oils
imported. Malaysia is the major supplier of
palm oil to South Africa, exporting about
108,000 metric tonnes in 2013. This is
equivalent to nearly 29 per cent of that
country’s palm oil imports. Kamal Azmi
Kamarudin, MPOC Durban
(Watch out for Part 2 in our next issue)
Port of Durban: Reaching
out to Southern Africa Region
Continued from page 6
MARKETInsightsIns g