What is Palm Oil ?

Pal oil is an edible vegetable oil which is also used in manufacturing, in beauty products. Palm oil accounted for about 36% of global oils produced from oil crops in 2014. According to 2015 data, palm oil consumption by humans was 7.7 kg (17 lb) per person globally. Due to rising cosmetics and biofuels around the world, the palm oil is demands are equally rising. Historians believe that humans used oil palms as far back as 5,000 years. However, it has a complex refining method which needs four layers of process.

Indonesia and Malaysia are the largest palm oil suppliers of palm. However, palm oil has the potential to affect nature and Malaysia is thinking of banning it, says report.

Palm Oil Demand in India

The India palm oil market size reached 10.2 Million Tons in 2024. Looking forward, IMARC Group expects the market to reach 14.1 Million Tons by 2033, exhibiting a growth rate (CAGR) of 3.4% during 2025-2033.

“India’s demand for palm oil, however, is currently met by imports mainly from Malaysia and Indonesia, with domestic production being limited. The market for palm oil in India is currently driven by factors such as its lower cost, rising urbanization rates, increasing disposable income levels, rising demand from the food services industry, and its increasing applications in the non-food sector,” says a report. 

Palm Oil opportunities in Tripura

Tripura Agriculture Minister Ratan Lal Nath appealed to the people of Tripura to come forward for palm oil cultivation. He participated in a palm oil plantation program in Udaipur subdivision, and sharing the post on social media said, “Today, I launched a mega oil palm plantation drive at Raia Bari in Ratan Lal's Udaipur Killa assembly area and requested the farmers of the area to come forward for oil palm cultivation. A national project centered on oil palm was announced in the entire country in 2021 to make the country self-reliant in edible oil production. Although the project was started in our state in the financial year 2022-23, it is currently progressing very well. I request all the farmers to come forward to pave the way for themselves to become financially prosperous by promoting oil palm cultivation in a mission mode. In addition, various high-quality agricultural equipment was distributed among the farmers of this area. A vehicle was given to the FPC Group through which it is easy for the farmers to market and import and export their produce.”

What the Opposition said about this new idea 

The issue was brought to focus by CPI-M party’s farmers’ wing. CPI-M leader Pabitra Kar in a press meet said that this drive will not bring much benefit for the people and farmers of Tripura. He also mentioned, palm oil is hazardous to nature, which should not be encouraged.

WATCH CPI-M Press meet on this issue : CPI-M opposed Ratan Lal Nath's Palm Cultivation drive ; says, "There might be another reason behind this!!"

The Key Points the Opposition Party mentioned :

• Palm oil sucks all water from the soil
• Tripura does not have that much of land to afford palm cultivation
• The Minister has a duplicitous intention behind this drive (CPI-M cited how the Minister planted palm oil in an opposition party member’s tea garden, which is illegal as tea gardens are preserved areas).
• CPI-M alleged like Assam, the Tripura government is planning to allocate that land to Baba Ramdev’s company.
• Overall, it will snatch the existing cultivations.