As India prepares for the Palm Oil Conclave 2025 in Bhopal, the timing could not be more critical. With global edible-oil dynamics shifting, sustainability debates heating up, and India’s import dependence under strain, this event stands poised to shape the future of palm oil in the country.
At the centre of this effort is the Asian Palm Oil Alliance (APOA), which is taking a leadership role in convening global voices on palm oil. As an alliance representing major palm-oil-consuming nations across Asia, APOA sees this conclave as part of its responsibility — to develop collaboration, correct misconceptions, encourage responsible sourcing, and strengthen regional partnerships. By bringing international experts, researchers, policymakers, and industry leaders onto one platform, the conclave ensures that India’s palm oil journey is aligned with global best practices and regional realities.
The Global and Asian Picture
Palm oil is one of the most important vegetable oils in the world. Globally, production is estimated at around 50–52 million tonnes per year, with Indonesia and Malaysia together accounting for roughly 85% of that output. What makes palm oil so compelling is its yield — oil palm produces far more oil per hectare than traditional oilseeds.
In Asia, palm oil is ubiquitous not just in cooking but across food processing, cosmetics, and industrial uses. Its efficiency, cost-competitiveness, and versatility have made it central to many economies in Southeast Asia.
India’s import dependency: A strategic challenge
India is currently one of the largest importers of palm oil. According to government data, more than 50% of India's edible-oil imports are palm oil. In recent years, India has been importing 9–10 million tonnes of palm oil annually, mostly from Indonesia and Malaysia. This dependency creates a significant economic burden. For instance, in 2021-22, India’s palm oil import bill ran into tens of thousands of crores (₹ 75,727 crore).
The domestic opportunity: Why scale-up matters
India’s domestic production of palm oil remains modest today, but is rapidly growing. Under the National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP), the country aims to expand palm cultivation and reduce import dependence. As of March 2025, the mission reported about 5.56 lakh hectares under oil palm, with significant untapped potential: ICAR assessments estimate around 27.99 lakh hectares of suitable land across India.
Under NMEO-OP, crude palm oil (CPO) production is projected to surge: from just 0.27 lakh tonnes in 2019–20 to 11.2 lakh tonnes by 2025–26, and potentially 28 lakh tonnes by 2029–30. In tandem, government policies guarantee farmers a “viability price” for their fresh fruit bunches (FFB), protecting them from international price volatility.
A crucial but often overlooked dimension of the palm oil debate is its role in strengthening food security, especially for countries like India where edible oil demand is rising sharply while cultivable land remains limited. Palm oil is the most land-efficient vegetable oil in the world, producing on average 3.5 to 4.5 tonnes of oil per hectare, whereas soybean yields only about 0.4 tonnes, rapeseed about 0.6–0.8 tonnes, and sunflower about 0.7–0.9 tonnes per hectare. This means oil palm delivers six to ten times more oil from the same amount of land compared to other oilseed crops. Globally, palm oil contributes nearly 35% of the world’s vegetable oil supply while using less than 10% of the land allocated to oilseed production. In contrast, soybean occupies almost 40% of global oilseed farmland but produces only about 25% of global oil output. For India, which continues to depend on imports for 50–60% of its edible oil requirement, these numbers underline a critical truth: replacing palm oil with other oils would require four to eight times more land, putting enormous pressure on forests, food crops, and fragile ecosystems. Therefore, expanding palm oil responsibly is not just an economic need — it is a strategic imperative for national food security.
A dialogue the world rarely hosts
Yet, despite such compelling data, structured and evidence-based dialogues on palm oil remain rare worldwide. Conversations on the crop often get overshadowed by fragmented narratives around health myths, isolated environmental concerns, or public misinformation, without equal attention to yield comparisons, land efficiency, or global food-system implications. This is what makes the Palm Oil Conclave 2025 in Bhopal particularly significant. By bringing together scientists, global experts, policymakers, industry leaders, and farmer representatives on a single platform, the conclave becomes one of the few global-level spaces where palm oil is discussed holistically — not only as a commodity, but as a pathway toward food security, sustainability, farmer livelihoods, and regional cooperation. With APOA leading from the front, Bhopal is set to host a conversation that is both timely and transformative, guiding India and Asia toward a more resilient edible-oil future.
In India, specifically, there is a myth that increasing palm production would risk food security or displace food crops. But experts argue that carefully managed expansion — including intercropping during the gestation period — can actually diversify income sources for farmers and reduce import costs.
Why Now?
India’s edible oil sector stands at a crossroads. For decades, the country has relied heavily on imports to fill its oil basket, making the economy vulnerable to global price shocks. At the same time, domestic growers, processors, and state governments are actively seeking long-term, stable opportunities to boost farm incomes and build rural industries. In this context, a national-level dialogue on palm oil is no longer optional — it is essential.
Palm oil discussions create a common platform where growers, policymakers, scientists, processors, and companies can align on one national goal: reducing import dependence through sustainable domestic cultivation. Such conversations help farmers understand viable models, modern agronomy, intercropping approaches, and assured procurement policies. For governments, these dialogues highlight the policy interventions needed to strengthen nurseries, processing units, planting materials, extension systems, and long-term price support.
For the processing industry and companies, dialogues like the Palm Oil Conclave open pathways for investment in mills, logistics, R&D, value-added products, and traceability systems. Most importantly, they help resolve long-standing misconceptions about palm oil — scientifically, economically, and environmentally — clearing the way for responsible expansion in India.
Hosting this discussion in Bhopal adds another layer of significance. Madhya Pradesh has emerged as a centre of agricultural innovation and policy leadership. With its strategic location, evolving agribusiness ecosystem, and growing interest in diversification, MP can act as a bridge between traditional oilseed regions and new-potential zones under NMEO-OP. By convening the country’s biggest palm oil dialogue here, India signals its intent to strengthen coordination, empower growers with knowledge, attract industry investments, and build a future-ready edible oil ecosystem.
For more details, please visit their event page: https://asianpalmoilalliance.org/palm-oil-conclave-2025-2/
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