Palm oil
Palm oil is produced from the fruit of the oil palm, a tropical tree originating
from West Africa and now growing mainly in East Asia. Unilever currently owns
plantations in West Africa only. Well-managed plantations can be highly sustainable
– they need fewer inputs, result in less pollution and soil degradation
and create more rural employment than other vegetable oils.
Palm oil has been consumed for more than 5,000 years. It is an excellent natural
ingredient, and important for Unilever. Its unique properties make it
suitable for use in many everyday products, such as margarine and soaps. We
buy 4-5% of total world palm oil production – about one million tonnes
– every
year, mostly from Indonesia and Malaysia.
Unilever work on sustainable palm oil started in Malaysia, on plantations belonging
to Pamol Berhad which was sold in 2002. The same approach was adopted on our plantations
in West Africa, where work to continuously improve the approach is ongoing. Lead
plantation at the moment is Benso Oil Palm Plantation in Ghana, a 4500 ha plantation
which is partially managed as a smallholder operation. A first set of Good Agricultural
Practice guidelines for palm oil was published in 2002 (please check Results,
SA Guidelines). Detailed operating procedures and results of indicator measurements
will follow later.