PALM OIL

The boomerang effect of the European decision

On the occasion of the 5th African Palm Oil & Rubber Summit in Accra late April, CommodAfrica, a specialized information website on West African agriculture and world commodity markets, launches its first ‘Dossier du Mois’ dedicated to the palm tree. Indeed, this oil, which is the most produced and consumed in the world, is at the forefront of news on both the world markets and West Africa. On the world markets because the decision of the European Parliament of 17 January to phase out, by 2021, the use of palm oil in transport in Europe raises a wave of reactions. In this dossier, Alain Rival, Regional Director for Insular Southeast Asia at the Center for International Cooperation in Agronomic Research for Development (CIRAD) and specialist in the oil palm sector, gives his nuanced analysis of the debate in course and tries to measure the impact that the European decision could have on a region, West Africa, for which palm oil is one of the bases of the diet. Because, one cannot be mistaken: if these West African countries are not -not any more- major players on the world stage of palm oil, decisions at the global market can have a very strong impact on their markets. With our correspondents throughout West Africa, and after recalling some figures of the fundamentals of the palm oil market, this Dossier reviews the situation in several countries: Nigeria, the largest African producer but which still remains largely in deficit; Côte d’Ivoire, n ° 2 continental, which intends to promote the «red oil», thus unrefined palm oil which contains treasures for human health and which is positioned on a gastronomic segment of the local urban markets ; Ghana, host of the Summit, No. 4 in Africa, which also set itself the goal of self-sufficiency, synonymous with jobs, foreign exchange and value-added. Finally, a quick glimpse of the situation in Burkina Faso highlights the issues and recent developments in this importing country where the logic of the regional market is playing out. The commodafrica.com team hopes you find our Dossier interesting and welcome any feedback. It is also posted on www.commodafrica.com