http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_oil http://faostat.fao.org/site/339/default.aspx
Rank Area Production (Int $1000) Flag Production (MT) Flag 1 Indonesia 9331537 * 21449000 * 2 Malaysia 8227797 * 18912000 * 3 Thailand 665637 * 1530000 * 4 Colombia 409562 * 941400 * 5 Nigeria 404603 * 930000 * 6 Papua New Guinea 243631 * 560000 * 7 Côte d'Ivoire 161406 * 371000 8 Cameroon 154043 * 354076 9 Honduras 139218 * 320000 * 10 Ecuador 126123 * 289900 F 11 Brazil 117465 * 270000 * 12 Guatemala 107894 * 248000 * 13 Costa Rica 105066 * 241500 14 China, mainland 95712 * 220000 F 14 China 95712 * 220000 F 16 Democratic Republic of the Congo 82660 * 190000 F 17 Ghana 53076 * 122000 * 18 Peru 37849 * 87000 * 18 Philippines 37849 * 87000 * 20 Mexico 31759 * 73000 *
Indonesia
As of 2009, Indonesia was the largest producer of palm oil, surpassing Malaysia in 2006, producing more than 20.9 million tonnes.[58] Indonesia aspires to become the world's top producer of palm oil.[59] But at the end of 2010, 60 percent of the output was exported still in the form of Crude Palm Oil.[60] FAO data show production increased by over 400% between 1994 and 2004, to over 8.66 million metric tonnes.
In addition to servicing traditional markets, Indonesia is looking to put more effort into producing biodiesel. Major local and global companies are building mills and refineries, including PT. Astra Agro Lestari terbuka (150,000 tpa biodiesel refinery), PT. Bakrie Group (a biodiesel factory and new plantations), Surya Dumai Group (biodiesel refinery).[61]
Cargill (sometimes operating through CTP Holdings of Singapore, is building new refineries and mills in Malaysia and Indonesia, expanding its Rotterdam refinery to handle 300,000 tpa of palm oil, acquiring plantations in Sumatra, Kalimantan, the Indonesian peninsula and Papua New Guinea). Robert Kuok's Wilmar International Limited has plantations and 25 refineries across Indonesia, to supply feedstock to new biodiesel refineries in Singapore, Riau, Indonesia and Rotterdam.[61] In Kalimantan, the activity of palm oil companies endangers the living space ofIndigenous Tribes,[62] and orangutans. [63]
The Aceh governor issued a permit in August 2011 for Indonesian palm oil firm PT Kallista Alam to develop some 1,600 hectares in Tripa.[64]
Indonesian Palm oil producer Triputra Agro Persada will reportedly increase its planted area by about two-thirds from 2013 by 2015.[65]
Malaysia
In 2012, Malaysia, the world's second largest producer of palm oil,[66] produced 18.79 million tonnes of crude palm oil on roughly 5,000,000 hectares (19,000 sq mi) of land.[67][68] Though Indonesia produces more palm oil, Malaysia is the world's largest exporter of palm oil having exported 18 million tonnes of palm oil products in 2011. China, Pakistan, the European Union, India and the United States are the primary importers of Malaysian palm oil products.[69]
In 2012, the Malaysian palm oil industry employed an estimated 491,000 workers.[68]
Malaysia's Sime Darby is the largest listed palm oil company globally, based on plantation area and fresh fruit bunch production.[70] The company was created through a Malaysian government initiated merger in December 2006.[71][72] The world's second-largest oil palm plantation company, Felda Global Ventures Holdings (FELDA), is also based in Malaysia.[73][74]
Nigeria
As of 2011, Nigeria was the third-largest producer, with more than 2.5 million hectares (6.2×106 acres) under cultivation. Until 1934, Nigeria had been the world's largest producer. Both small- and large-scale producers participated in the industry.[75][76]
Thailand
produced 1.3 million tonnes of crude palm oil on roughly 5,700,000 hectares proposes to expand land use for exportable cash crops to 10,000,000 hectares in 2027
Colombia
In the 1960s, about 18,000 hectares (69 sq mi) were planted with palm. Colombia has now become the largest palm oil producer in the Americas, and 35% of its product is exported as biofuel. In 2006, the Colombian plantation owners' association, Fedepalma, reported that oil palm cultivation was expanding to 1,000,000 hectares (3,900 sq mi). This expansion is being funded, in part, by the United States Agency for International Development to resettle disarmed paramilitary members on arable land, and by the Colombian government, which proposes to expand land use for exportable cash crops to 7,000,000 hectares (27,000 sq mi) by 2020, including oil palms. Fedepalma states that its members are following sustainable guidelines.[77]
Some Afro-Colombians claim that some of these new plantations have been expropriated from them after they had been driven away through poverty and civil war, while armed guards intimidate the remaining people to further depopulate the land, while coca production and trafficking follows in their wake.[78]
Other producers
Benin
Palm is native to the wetlands of western Africa, and south Benin already hosts many palm plantations. Its 'Agricultural Revival Programme' has identified many thousands of hectares of land as suitable for new oil palm export plantations. In spite of the economic benefits, Non-governmental organisations (NGOs), such as Nature Tropicale, claim biofuels will compete with domestic food production in some existing prime agricultural sites. Other areas comprise peat land, whose drainage would have a deleterious environmental impact. They are also concerned genetically modified plants will be introduced into the region, peopardizing the current premium paid for their non-GM crops.[79][80]
Cameroon
Cameroon has a production project underway initiated by Herakles Farms in the US.[81] However, the project has been halted under the pressure of Greenpeace, WWF and other civil society organizations in Cameroon. Before the project was halted, Herakles left the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) early on in negotiations. The project has been controversial due to opposition from villagers and the location of the project in a biodiversity hotspot.[82][83]
Kenya
Kenya's domestic production of edible oils covers about a third of its annual demand, estimated at around 380,000 metric tonnes. The rest is imported at a cost of around US$140 million a year, making edible oil the country's second most important import after petroleum. Since 1993 a new hybrid variety of cold-tolerant, high-yielding oil palm has been promoted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in western Kenya. As well as alleviating the country's deficit of edible oils while providing an important cash crop, it is claimed to have environmental benefits in the region, because it does not compete against food crops or native vegetation and it provides stabilisation for the soil.[84]
Ghana
Ghana has a lot of palm nut species, which can become an important contributor to the agriculture of the region. Although Ghana has multiple palm species, ranging from local palm nuts to other species locally called agric, it was only marketed locally and to neighboring countries. Production is now expanding as major investment funds are purchasing plantations, because Ghana is considered a major growth area for palm oil.
