April 10, 2000

Malaysia: A Strong Competitor in Vegetable Oil Production

Will Technology Make Them Stronger?

Summary

• Malaysia palm oil production has nearly tripled since 1984/85.
• Cloning technology, which is being used in palm tree breeding, may be boosting yields.

Malaysia: A Strong Competitor

Malaysia, the largest palm oil producer, is a strong competitor to the United States in the production of vegetable oil. Output of palm oil there has increased from 3.8 million tons in 1984/85 to a forecast 10.6 million tons in 1999/2000.

As a point of comparison, the United States is forecast to produce 8.2 million tons of soybean oil in 1999/2000.

Cloning Used to Improve Productivity

Heretofore, palm oil producing countries have depended on area expansion to increase output. That may be changing, as modern technology is used in palm oil plant breeding.

In Malaysia, palm tree seed producers have set up industrial scale laboratories to use cloning to rapidly increase superior parent lines. These parent lines are then crossed to form hybrid seed which are distributed to plantations, which in Malaysia can exceed 20,000 hectares in size. Agriculturists at these plantations control seed selection, fertilizer applications, and other crop cultural practices.

Palm oil yields decreased in Malaysia from 3.74 tons per hectare in 1984/85 to 3.20 tons in 1991/92, primarily due to rainfall, but to a significant degree due to expanded plantings in less productive areas. Since then, however, yields have increased to a projected 3.77 tons in 1999/2000, despite continued area expansion of about 6 percent per year. While most of the recent rise in yields is attributable to beneficial rainfall, the trend decline in yields appears to have stopped or reversed because of improved technology.

For more information, contact Paul Provance or Suzanne Miller with the Production Estimates and Crop Assessment Division on (202) 720-0888