Indonesia can triple oil palm plantations

Indonesia has the potential to add 10 million to 11 million hectares to the current oil palm plantations of about 6 million hectares without damaging virgin forests, M. R. Chandran, adviser to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) said. This is in stark contrast to Malaysia, which is nearing its limit of 5 million hectares, said Chandran, a former head of the Malaysian Palm Oil Association. Indonesia’s aggressive expansion will make it the world’s top producer of palm oil this year, with output set to reach 17 million tons, up from 15.8 million tons last year and well above the 15.6 million tons that Malaysia is expected to produce. (September 12, 2007)