The value of Colombia’s palm oil exports may rise significantly to $800 million this year, thanks to high international prices and stable production, the palm growers association said on Tuesday. The figure would be well above the $500 million value of foreign palm oil sales last year, said Nicolas Perez, the president of the Fedepalma association. “By July we’d surpassed the exports for all of 2021, with $650 million, and at the close of the year they could be some $800 million,” Perez told Reuters. “The palm business last year and the first half of this year has been really good, after two very tough years.” The price for a tonne of palm oil is around $900, well above the long-term average of between $650 and $700, Perez said, and last year the price reached a high of $1,500. Several international factors account for high prices, including harvesting issues in Malaysia, the war in Ukraine – which hit production of sunflower oil – and droughts in the United States, Argentina and Brazil which lowered soy oil production. Colombian palm oil output could be slightly above the 2021 record of 1.75 million tonnes, Perez said.
“We could have production equal to or even slightly above that of last year.” The industry’s challenge is to increase productivity, he said. “In Colombia we produce 3.5 tonnes of oil per hectare and we think we could easily reach 5 tonnes per hectare as a general target,” Perez said. “That is the best insurance for periods of low prices.” Colombia is the world’s fourth-largest producer – behind Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand – of palm oil, which is used in food, cosmetics, soaps and as a biofuel. Some 30% of Colombia’s production is exported.