Malaysia is the most likely beneficiary of growing US demand for palm oil, spurred by concern over transfats, a conference in Kuala Lumpur heard today (Friday).
Palm oil consumption in the US is currently growing due to the presence and efforts of the American Palm Oil Council, Dennis Maxfield, owner and publisher of The Trade News Service, a weekly publication for the fats and oils industry, told the Annual Palm and Lauric Oils Conference and Exhibition: Price Outlook 2005/2006.
“It is also due partly to the properties of palm oil and in particular the fact that since palm oil does not require hydrogenation for storage, it can be billed as transfat free,” Maxfield said in a speech reported by the Malaysian national news agency Bernama.
Maxfield said that the requirement by the US Food and Drug Administration that all food labels disclose the amount of transfat beginning 2006, could also help to spur demand for palm oil in the US food industry.
