Comeback for palm?

OILS & FATS INTERNATIONAL VOL 38 NO 4 MAY 2022

EDITORIAL:

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With no end in sight in the Russia-Ukraine war, the world and our own oils and fats market are getti ng to grips with the impact of this tragic confl ict between the two sunfl ower oil giants.

Outside of the suff ering and death of people in Ukraine, there are now everyday examples of what a shortage of sunfl ower oil might mean. In the UK, several supermarkets including Iceland, Waitrose and Morrisons are rati oning sunfl ower oil to one or two bott les per customer, with an accompanying price rise.

There have also been reports that half of the country’s 10,000 fi sh and chip shops could go out of business due to expensive deep frying oil and a 35% tariff on Russian fi sh imports.

With the vast majority of the UK’s sunfl ower oil sourced from Ukraine and Russia – which together account for around 80% of global sunfl ower oil exports – industry sources have predicted they could run out in a matt er of weeks.

Some food companies will be turning to palm and soyabean oil as alternati ves, to the fear of environmentalists, who have blamed both for deforestati on in Southeast Asia and the Amazon, respecti vely.

In the UK, Iceland – which removed palm oil from its own label brands in 2018 – is temporarily returning to using palm oil (see page 7). The alternati ve would be “simply to clear our freezers and shelves of a wide range of staples”, Iceland managing director Richard Walker says.

Specifi cally in frying and snack food producti on, manufacturers could switch to palm olein if supplies of high oleic sunfl ower oil are curtailed or become too expensive. While regular sunfl ower oil is relati vely high in polyunsaturated (PUFA) linoleic acid, which makes it unsuitable for commercial frying since it oxidises rapidly, high oleic sunfl ower oil has a lower PUFA content but nearly 80% monounsaturated oleic acid, ideal for high temperature frying.

“So strangely, while the Russia-Ukraine confl ict has spun the world into turmoil, negati vely impacted petroleum, gas and even sunfl ower oil supply chains, the soluti on for the edible oil sector may lie in a reverse to the old ways through adopti on of various palm oil/palm olein applicati ons,” Dr Kalyana Sundram, a consultant for the Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries, wrote in a 7 March blog. “Market forces, parti cularly in the Asia and Middle East regions, are already signalling this makeover.”

In Europe, which is heavily dependant on Ukrainian sunfl ower oil imports but also draft ing a deforestati on regulati on, it remains to be seen how long its stocks of sunfl ower oil and reputati on concerns can hold out.

For exporters of both grain and oilseeds in Ukraine, the most pressing issue is getti ng their stocks out. With the 24 February invasion cutti ng off access to the country’s Black Sea and Azov Sea ports, most fl ow is now going via rail or the Danube River ports of Reni and Izmail.

There are some 1.25M tonnes of grains and oilseeds stranded on 57 blocked ships in Ukrainian ports that may be at risk of spoilage, farm minister Mykoa Solskyi has said (see p4). And while rail shipments are improving, they are sti ll only at half their potenti al.

The war in Ukraine needs to end for the people in Ukraine and for the sake of global food security. However, how this can be achieved is sti ll uncertain.