Published on October 18, 2005

Palm-oil manufacturers and planters have urged the government to adjust plans for a biodiesel farm project so that it can be supplied by domestic palm oil.

Somchai Sittichoke, manager of the Krabi Oil Palm Farmers Cooperatives Federation Ltd, said that the government should support the establishment of new palm oil plants rather than only promoting the planting of oil-palm trees. He added that the government should define which areas are suitable for palm planting.

“The project is unclear for both palm oil manufacturers and planters,” he said.

This year the government has promoted oil-palm farming in the southern and eastern regions to support the production of biodiesel. But its promotions don’t include palm-oil manufacturing.

Moreover, the government has no guarantee of future demand for biodiesel and no plan to set up palm-oil factories.

There are 800,000 rai of palm oil plantations in Krabi that produce 900,000 tonnes of oil annually.

But palm oil manufacturers are worried that if palm production is increased, planters won’t have anywhere to sell the palm oil since there is no biodiesel factory using palm oil as an ingredient.

Somchai said his federation is now planning to expand its production capacity from 1,000 litres to 10,000 litres a day.

He said that the federation is now studying about a production level of 200,000 tonnes of palm oil per day. If the project is successful, Thailand will have a large scale supply of palm oil to support the use of biodiesel.

Malaysia, the largest palm-oil manufacturer, produces 14 million tonnes per year – or 46 per cent of the world market. The second-largest producer is Indonesia with 11.4 million tonnes per year, or 36 per cent of the market. Thailand ranks third with 2 million tonnes per year.

Petchanet Pratruangkrai

The Nation

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