Every time a housewife in Delhi opens a fresh bottle of cooking oil, or a family in rural China fries noodles for breakfast, they are benefiting from a quiet revolution that began not in the boardrooms of London or the farms of the American Midwest, but in the humid plantations of Malaysia.
Few can deny this uncomfortable truth: before Malaysia’s intervention, the world was on the verge of a fats-and-oils crisis. Today, environmental activists in Brussels vilify palm oil as a villain. But looking at the data and the geopolitics of hunger, one must conclude that palm oil and the Malaysian pioneers who pushed it have literally saved the global food supply from collapse.
It is a story of great dependency. Consider the mathematics. Most countries are net importers of edible oil. They do not have the temperate climate to grow soybeans, the land to grow sunflowers, or the infrastructure to produce rapeseed. They rely on the market. And for decades, that market was highly volatile.
Then there is India, a nation where a spike in ghee or vegetable oil prices has historically toppled state governments and sparked street riots. When supply chains hiccup, people experiencing poverty go hungry. Enter palm oil. Unlike fragile soybean or sunflower oils, palm oil is highly prolific. One hectare of oil palm yields six to ten times more oil than a hectare of soybeans. It is the only crop capable of producing enough volume to satiate the gargantuan appetites of India and China at a price they can afford.
Without palm oil, the global edible oil deficit would be measured in tens of millions of tonnes. Without it, the riots in India would not be hypothetical; they would be a weekly headline.
The world must thank the Malaysian engine of palm oil expansion. But the fruit did not market itself. It is not far-fetched to suggest that Malaysia single-handedly made palm oil what it is today. Before the 1960s, palm oil was a minor curiosity. an African native crop overshadowed by soy, cottonseed, and butter. It was Malaysia that industrialised it. It was Malaysia that invested in the ruthless research and development to improve yields, disease resistance, and milling efficiency. It was Malaysian companies that sailed across the straits to Indonesia, planting the seeds that would eventually turn their neighbour into the world’s largest producer. In fact, it was Malaysia which, through good science, resolved many of the unsavoury narratives about palm oil. Admittedly, many among the competing oils were not thrilled by the sudden entry of palm oil on the world stage.
Indonesia may now hold the volume crown, but it stands on Malaysian shoulders. Every breakthrough in palm oil genetics, processing, and global logistics was pioneered in Kuala Lumpur and Johor. And when the West launched health scares about saturated fats, it was Malaysian marketing that pivoted, proving the oil’s balance and versatility and turning it into the backbone of the global processed food industry.
The world has developed a selective memory. The same European non-governmental organisations that demonise palm oil as the harbinger of deforestation conveniently ignore that switching to sunflower or rapeseed would require four times the land. Which is the greater ecological crime: using the most efficient crop, or ploughing under the Amazon for soy? We should pay tribute. Palm oil saved the world from an acute shortage of oils and fats. It lifted millions out of poverty in Malaysia and Indonesia. It provided a stable, affordable commodity that allowed developing nations to feed their citizens without facing severe currency crises.
Yes, sustainability matters. No one defends the burning of primary rainforests. But the solution is not a boycott. The solution is to double down on Malaysian-style management: high-yield, science-driven, regulated agriculture. The latest development is that oil palm may also be the crop that cushions the impact of the global threat of energy insecurity. So today, I raise a glass of cooking oil — golden, stable, efficient — to Malaysia. The world is not hungry thanks to you. It is time we said thank you.
Professor Dato Dr Ahmad Ibrahim is an Associate Fellow at the Ungku Aziz Centre for Development Studies (UAC), Universiti Malaya.
- Professor Dato Dr Ahmad Ibrahim
- Professor Dato Dr Ahmad Ibrahim
- Professor Dato Dr Ahmad Ibrahim
- Professor Dato Dr Ahmad Ibrahim
