Palm oil is a vegetable oil that is produced by simple steaming and pressing (Palm Oil Health). Oil palm cultivation produces more metric tons of oil per hectare than any other vegetable oil. The tree can grow on a range of soils, requires relatively little in terms of fertilizers and pesticides, and bears fruit year-round, making it an attractive crop for smallholders.
It is full of nutrients including rich in carotenes,such as alpha-carotene, betacarotene and lycopene including vitamins E, A, K etc.
Palm oil is popularly used in both solid fat products as well as in the liquid cooking oil sector especially in industrial frying applications. It offers several technical characteristics desirable in food applications, such as resistance to oxidation, which contributes towards longer shelf life of end products.
There are many myths about palm oil being unhealthy and it probably arises due to competitve brands and unawareness of its benifits.
Palm oil is a cholesterol-free and trans-fat-free vegetable oil with a composition of 50% saturated and 50% unsaturated fatty acids. Its naturally reddish-orange presence suggests a high beta-carotene content, a natural dietary supply of vitamin A, which is 15 and 30 times higher than that of carrots and tomatoes respectively. It is also one of the very few naturally saturated vegetable fats that decreases the low-density lipoprotein (bad cholesterol) in the blood. Vitamin E tocotrienols from palm oil are natural antioxidants that help prevent chronic diseases and may support brain health.
The covid situation also had severe effect on palm oil as stated by bhavna shah:
International crude palm oil prices slipped more than 20 per cent in January/February, primarily due to the restrictions placed by India and the international scare of coronavirus. In just a one-week period, crude palm oil prices in Malaysia and Indonesia crashed by 10 per cent as supply to China stalled.
As the supply of edible oil has slowed down, price rise due to the principle of demand and supply is kicking in. Governmental authorities are said to be keeping a hawks-eye on price-movements. They are expected to intervene if they feel the price rise is unjustified and used as a ploy to increase profits. Decisive action has been seen from the government in the last few weeks and can be expected to curb profiteering.
The slowdown is seeing a negative growth in consumption. There have been lay-offs at the bottom of the pyramid. This is expected to see a degrowth in consumption of around 5-10%
In the midst of all the carnage, the resolve of the government to help is a silver lining. To help the small and medium sectors, a slew of measures have been introduced. Help with regard to working capital norms, deferring of repayment of loans for some months and other steps are positive ones. This will have a positive impact on many of the industries connected with the edible oil industry.
Applications of palm oil-
The versatility of palm oil certainly goes beyond edible oil. Lipstick, cosmetics, candles, soap, shampoo, detergent, biodiesel are among the inedible products that contain this very important natural ingredient. In fact, more than half the products on sale in the supermarket are made with palm oil.
Palm oil is collectively an oil which shall fullfill all the needs which a human body needs and whole of our country should consume palm oil not only just for its benifits but also because its very affordable and serves its purpose.
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