Southeast Asia's palm oil industry has incurred persistent attacks from Western environmental and animal protection groups for its destruction of rainforests and the habitat of animals like the orangutan. Both the EU and U.S. governments are proposing to deny biodiesel made from palm the ability to qualify as an acceptable biofuel because it does not reduce greenhouse gases sufficiently. It is only a matter of time until some consumer group once again slams palm oil in food as a cause of heart disease. Wherever the palm oil industry looks, one group or another is trying to put it out of business.Yet the palm oil industry is immensely profitable. Global demand for palm oil is increasing every year and surplus stocks are very low. The June...

TAGS – Soy & Oilseeds, Biofuels, Farm Inputs, Energy, Asia, North America