With the world’s need for both edible fats and oils rising at a nearly unsustainable rate, palm oil represents a massive opportunity to fill that growing demand.  Emerging markets are in an explosive growth phase in caloric needs.  As they rise in wealth, so will their demand for calories and as such so will the demand for meat and dairy, the primary sources of saturated fats, which, despite propaganda to the contrary are absolutely essential for proper growth, development and maintenance of human beings. 

Tropical countries have an advantage in that they can produce both palm and coconuts whose oils are rich in saturated fats; providing a relatively cheap source for them as well as high caloric density.  Palm and coconut oils alleviate that creating a low cost entry point into a higher calorie dietary cycle.  In essence, palm and coconut farming can be seen as a substitution effect for animal husbandry to some extent.

The reason as to why palm oil is the disruptive technology of food production is simply because it is more than ten times more efficient per acre than soybean oil and seven to eight times more efficient than rapeseed oil.  Every acre of palm planted yields nearly 11 times the volume of soybean oil and seven times the rapeseed oil.  Total land under cultivation is somewhere around 15 million hectares, which is less than 2% of that which is dedicated to soybean production.   

Indonesia and Malaysia produce 87% of the world’s palm oil or 38 million tonnes.....