The Palm Oil Story

The Oil palm fruit originated from West Africa. It has helped in restructuring Nigeria to this day. This was introduced to the Malaysians from NIFOR (National Institute For Palm Oil Research) Edo State Nigeria, though reports have it that the very first introduction of this plant to Malaysia was in 1917. Trailing Malaysia in world production of this increasingly popular oil is Indonesia. An emerging use of this oil in many countries now is its use in production of bio-diesel. This is because when processed, palm oil has the same properties as diesel, and can be used in driving diesel engines.

First introduced to Malaysia in 1870 as an ornamental plant, the Elaeis Guineensis tree, also known as the oil palm, is now a leading agricultural crop. Since then, increased planting, cultivation and refinement have led to the introduction of a wide range of processed palm oil products. Today, palm fruit oil and palm oil products are used in many food and non-food applications. They can be used for frying media and for making margarines, shortenings, soap, oleo chemicals and other products.

• As early as 5000 years ago, oil made from palm fruit was already known in Egypt.
• Today, Malaysia is the Word’s largest producer of oil from palm fruit.
• Malaysian palm oil is thus to a very large extent like the Nigerian type.
• Red palm oil has been used for over 5,000 years and is still used in over 130 countries worldwide.