KUALA LUMPUR (March 31): Synthetic palm oil lacks originality as it does not contain Vitamin A and E compared with natural palm oil, which is rich with these nutritional values, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) said in a statement today. 

MPOB Director-General Dr Ahmad Parveez Ghulam Kadir said that the raw materials used to produce synthetic palm oil may not be from original sources, and as such it may not be priced as competitively.

“They can produce synthetic palm oil but cannot price the product competitively. The raw materials that they are using may not come from renewable sources. Finally, they [will not be able to] produce vitamin A and E that are currently present in natural palm oil. Will people use cosmetics and skincare products that come from waste oil and industrial by-products? Probably, they will end up using it for non-food like biodiesel,” he said.

The MPOB Director-General was referencing reports that New York-based C16 Biosciences is producing synthetic palm oil using microbes to convert food waste and industrial by-products through a fermentation process, which is touted as a replacement for the plant-derived version.

Reports have indicated that C16 Biosciences has received some US$20 million in funding in the series-A investment round from Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures Fund.

Ahmad Parveez also questioned the energy efficiency of the New York company’s fermentation process. He added that a detailed life cycle assessment should be made before making claims that palm oil is a major driver of deforestation and a leading cause of climate change.

According to Ahmad Parveez, the outfit in question is claiming that 31 million hectares (ha) of forest was cleared globally for palm oil cultivation between 1990 and 2004.

He further added that there has also been deforestation for the cultivation of other oil crops. Citing a study by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation — between 2010 and 2018, an additional 30.5 million ha of land was cultivated for soybean globally.

“Oil palm cultivated areas account for less than 1% of global agricultural land of around 5 billion hectares compared with other oilseeds crops (~5%) and other crops (~23%) while livestock is the largest at around ~71%,” he explained.

In terms of yields, oil palm has a yield that is 5 to 9 times higher than other oilseed crops such as soybean, sunflower and rapeseed — with productivity amounting to 4 tonnes of oil per hectare a year.

“The fact is, currently the company could produce half a tonne of synthetic palm oil annually and with the new investment they are expected to produce up to 50 tonnes,” Ahmad Parveez added.

As of March, 4.65 million ha, or 78.8%, of the 5.9 million ha of oil palm plantations in Malaysia had attained the Malaysia Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certification, while 394 of the 452 palm oil mills in Malaysia had done so.

“Although synthetic palm oil is claimed to be cost competitive and can be mass-produced, if the price is not as competitive as that of palm oil and is targeted to the ‘No Palm Oil’ labeling segment in the Western market, it will not affect the palm oil market but other vegetable oils,” Ahmad Parveez opined.