Have you decided what to do about palm oil?

The result is that if you use, sell or make products which contain palm oil, you can expect to be asked, on the record, for your company’s position on palm oil in the coming months.

Which sustainable route is right for your business?

If you’re still considering your options, we hope that this short guide to the sustainable sourcing of palm oil with its ‘demystifying derivatives’ section will help.

First and foremost, which sustainable option is right for you depends upon whether you use refined palm oil, palm kernel oil or a palm oil/palm kernel derivative.

Refined Palm Oil

If you manufacture, use or sell products which contain refined palm oil there is, depending on how you currently receive your oil, a sustainable palm (CSPO) option available to you right away. Of course GreenPalm is a credible and affordable option for you too.

Demystifying derivatives…
However over sixty per cent of palm oil we use has been further processed, before it is delivered to manufacturers or retailers, into palm oil ‘derivatives’. For the non-chemists among you think of the palm oil being ‘split’ or fractionated into palm oil derivatives.

At the first stage it is split into liquid palm olein (80%) and solid palm stearin (20%). These might then be blended with other oils, or undergo further processes such as interesterification, to create new oils with different physical and chemical characteristics. All are used as ingredients within shortenings, margarines for pastry and cakes, frying oils, coffee whitener and emulsifiers.

To complicate things further palm oil derivatives can themselves be ‘split’ a second time to produce ‘double fractionated’ palm olein, stearin etc. These are used in the production of a wide range of food products including gravy granules, suet mixes, frying oils, pastry margarine, snack foods and toffee fat.

Refined oil from the palm kernel is used in beauty products. Palm kernel olein is used in confectionery, coatings and margarines. Palm kernel stearin is used in confectionery.

Sustainable options for derivatives…

At the present time little, if any, CSPO is being processed into derivatives. There is no reason why it could not be, it’s simply a matter of supply, demand and cost. It costs money to segregate CSPO from the main supply chain, and each additional stage of processing adds to the total.

In addition, unless a purchaser can be found for the certified sustainable stearin which is an inevitable bi-product of the production of certified sustainable olein, or vice versa, the costs will increase as a result. So until demand grows significantly, CSPO derivatives are unlikely to be produced.

The GreenPalm certificate trading programme is therefore the only viable sustainable option for users of palm oil derivatives, palm kernel oil and palm kernel oil derivatives at the present time.

So do get in touch, we would like to help your business to support the sustainable production of palm oil through the GreenPalm certificate trading programme!

Trading news…

We’re delighted to report that GreenPalm certificates have traded this week at $16 dollars. There has also been a significant increase in trading volume, with 25,000 GreenPalm certificates traded in a single transaction. The result is that it is now more affordable than ever to support the sustainable production of palm oil.

You can monitor GreenPalm certificate trading by visiting the homepage

Thanks to all of you for your continued support of the GreenPalm programme.

If you would like any further information, please do get in touch.

Kind regards
Bob Norman

Tel: +44 (0)1482 332013 or bob.norman@greenpalm.org

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