Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Palm Oil, APOA

Mains level: Not Much

Edible oil trade associations from five palm oil importing countries in South Asia – India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal – on Thursday announced the setting up of Asian Palm Oil Alliance (APOA).

What is Oil Palm?

Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp of the fruit of the oil palms.
The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel.

What is APOA?

Through APOA, the countries aim at safeguarding the economic and business interests of the palm oil consuming countries and will work towards increasing the consumption of palm oil in member countries.
The idea is to gain collecting bargaining power and make imports sustainable.
APOA held its first general body meeting on the side-lines of the Globoil Summit.
The industry associations of Asian palm oil importing countries, unlike their counterparts in Europe, are not involved in shaping the global discourse on sustainable palm oil in a collective way.
The alliance would work towards ensuring that palm oil is recognised as a high-quality, economical, and healthy vegetable oil and to change the negative image of palm oil.

Why such move?

India’s annual imports of edible oil is around 13-14 million tonne (MT).
Around 8 MT of palm oil is imported from Indonesia and Malaysia, while other oils, such as soya and sunflower, come from Argentina, Brazil, Ukraine and Russia.
Asia accounts for around 40% of the global palm oil consumption while Europe accounts for 12% of palm oil trade.
Indonesia and Malaysia are the biggest palm oil exporters in the world.
India is the largest importer of palm oil in Asia, accounting for 15% of global imports, followed by China (9%), Pakistan (4%) and Bangladesh (2%).

Try this PYQ:

Q.Among the agricultural commodities imported by India, which one of the following accounts for the highest imports in terms of value in the last five years?

(a) Spices

(b) Fresh fruits

(c) Pulses

(d) Vegetable oils

Post your answers here.
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