EDITORIALDA must act to stop flood of palm oil importsBy The Manila Timeshome/Opinion/Editorial/DA must act to stop flood of palm oil importsAGRICULTURE Secretary Emmanuel Piñol announced this week that his department was “considering” imposing protective tariffs against refined palm oil after statistics revealed a tenfold increase in imports from Malaysia and Indonesia. Palm oil production is widely seen as a cause of deforestation and destruction of wetlands. Apart from a widespread consumer rejection of palm oil and products containing palm oil, the European Union is now weighing whether to ban its use in biofuels, which would be a disastrous market loss for palm oil producers. The sudden unpopularity of palm oil in the world market, however, should encourage a reconsideration of that strategy along three lines: First, ensuring that existing palm oil production is environmentally sustainable; second, reducing the country’s heavy reliance on palm oil; and third, exploring ways in which the agriculture sector can be further diversified into more economically viable products. The presence of a tariff will provide the Philippines’ own palm oil producers with the price protection they need in the short term.

Source: Manila Times November 23, 2018 16:30 UTC