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Without India, you can forget about achieving a sustainable palm oil sector
August 13, 2015
Without India, you can forget about achieving a sustainable palm oil sector
Sarah Hucal
Monday 10 August 2015 13.16 BST
In a food stall on a dusty New Delhi street corner, a woman in a bright orange sari drops samosas into a skillet of bubbling liquid, which crackles and pops as it laps up the potato-filled dough.
She is cooking with palm oil, the ingredient often met with controversy in the west due to concerns about deforestation and habitat loss. In India, however, the world’s top importer of palm oil, its sustainability goes largely unquestioned.
India’s 1.2 billion citizens consume approximately 15% of the global supply of palm oil. The vast majority of the commodity (95% according to WWF figures) is used as edible oil, with the remainder added to haircare and beauty products. The country imports nearly all of its palm oil, more than two-thirds of which is sourced from Indonesia.
Read more at The Guardian.
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