Palm oil losing ground to soybean in Bangladesh
Despite still being the most sold cooking oil, palm oil has lost more than 17% of the Bangladeshi market over the past seven years thanks to spiralling prices and a negative consumer attitude to the kitchen essential, according to producers.
Meanwhile, edging up consumption of soybean indicates that the vegetable oil category has been gaining more popularity in the local market.
"Palm oil amounted to 71% of the local edible oil consumption in 2013, which came down to around 53% in 2021. On the other hand, soybean oil consumption has ticked up to around 46% from 29% over the time," Tariq Ahmed, senior director of TK Group of Industries, told a virtual programme Wednesday.
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The Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries (CPOPC) organised the webinar titled "Palm Oil & Future Market Trends in Bangladesh" that attributed rising soybean consumption to flourishing local poultry, dairy and meat industries. Besides, the country gained an annual 5 million tonnes of soybean extraction capacity, which hints at 3 million tonnes of soybean import this year.
"Palm oil consumption declined as the prices surged. The poor now have better purchasing capacity while the food processing industry is also shying away from palm oil," said Tariq Ahmed.
However, AKM Fakhrul Alam, former regional manager at Malaysian Palm Oil Council, argued for palm oil saying, "Palm oil is healthier than soybean in Bangladesh perspective."
He noted the government has reduced taxes on soybean imports. But import of palm oil did not receive the policy support, which forced 70% of lower and middle-income Bangladeshis to reduce consumption of pricier palm oil.
"People buy palm oil when soybean and palm oil prices differ $100-150 per tonne. But when the gap winds down to $50 and the price stays close, they do not want to buy palm oil," he said.
According to him, there has also been some negative perception about palm oil, pushing people further to soybean.
Tan Sri Datuk Dr Yusof Basiron, executive director of CPOPC, said palm oil is popular to Bangladeshi food industry and local cuisines, but it is losing ground due to some negative publicity from the European bloc.
In 2021, Bangladesh imported 13.50 lakh tonnes of palm oil, while soybean import amounted to 11.65 lakh tonnes. About 80% of the palm oil was brought in from Indonesia and 20% from Malaysia.
The webinar said substandard palm categories cultivated by small farmers also contributed to the consumption drop.
