Can Malaysia cash in on the goodwill for MSPO?
Credit: MPOC on X
The Malaysian palm oil industry has come a long way since we wrote in 2018 that Malaysia needs better branding to distinguish Malaysian palm oil.
Backed by the strengthening of the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil certification system in subsequent years, the sustainability of Malaysian palm oil is now recognized by the United Kingdom and most recently the European Union.
The acceptance of the MSPO by the UK and the EU is a laudable achievement for sure. The recognition of a national certification scheme by the UK and EU for palm oil is a global first for commodities where markets are demanding proof of sustainability not only to please consumers but to meet new quality standards for import requirements.
However, words of praise or official recognition does not pay towards maintaining the standards set under the MSPO. Having proved that Malaysian palm oil is sustainably produced, the big challenge for Malaysia is to find market support to keep the Malaysian palm oil industry sustainable.
Buyer support for sustainably produced Malaysian palm oil will be critical for Malaysia to keep the MSPO robust and rigorous as the country faces an enormous financial burden to maintain production standards and quality.
Palm trees in Malaysia are getting older and so are the farmers that harvest their fruit to make palm oil. This could have big consequences for a product relied on by billions of people around the world, and used in a range of products
Backed by the strengthening of the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil certification system in subsequent years, the sustainability of Malaysian palm oil is now recognized by the United Kingdom and most recently the European Union.
The acceptance of the MSPO by the UK and the EU is a laudable achievement for sure. The recognition of a national certification scheme by the UK and EU for palm oil is a global first for commodities where markets are demanding proof of sustainability not only to please consumers but to meet new quality standards for import requirements.
However, words of praise or official recognition does not pay towards maintaining the standards set under the MSPO. Having proved that Malaysian palm oil is sustainably produced, the big challenge for Malaysia is to find market support to keep the Malaysian palm oil industry sustainable.
Buyer support for sustainably produced Malaysian palm oil will be critical for Malaysia to keep the MSPO robust and rigorous as the country faces an enormous financial burden to maintain production standards and quality.
Palm trees in Malaysia are getting older and so are the farmers that harvest their fruit to make palm oil. This could have big consequences for a product relied on by billions of people around the world, and used in a range of products
The challenge to monetize investments in sustainable palm oil
Malaysia has to capitalize on the momentum created by the global recognition of the MSPO as a mandatory certification standard and further distinguish itself as better than voluntary sustainability standards.
Lobby groups like the EIA with its constant criticism of voluntary certification schemes like the RSPO have damaged the credibility of palm oil certifications beyond recovery. In its latest criticism of the RSPO the EIA stated that:
Currently, companies’ deforestation commitments vary in scope and target dates and, crucially, are voluntary, leading to inconsistent progress and application.
Equally, voluntary certification schemes such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) have persistent compliance issues and enforcement gaps, as EIA’s Watchmen reports have highlighted. Without mandatory standards, there is no guarantee of real progress or accountability.
The EIA should find it refreshing that the MSPO as a mandatory standard for Malaysian palm oil has changed how sustainability certifications are enforced.
Malaysia has plans to gain market share in 2026 and rightfully identified negative narratives on sustainable palm oil from critics like the EIA as a primary target. If it is to parlay the global goodwill for the MSPO, the planned Countering Anti-Palm Campaigns (CAPOC) has to target markets where sustainability means something. The current primary markets for Malaysian palm oil in India, China or Kenya could care less about sustainability standards for palm oil.
Opportunities abound in the US
It would be reasonable to assume that the European Union with its much hyped up deforestation regulations would be a natural target for MSPO certified Malaysian palm oil. The problem for Malaysia is that Indonesian palm oil supplies dominates the EU’s palm imports. Indonesia gained an additional grip over the EU market when the EU and Indonesia signed a trade agreement which gave Indonesian palm oil preferential tariffs.
This could leave Malaysian companies armed with the EU-accepted MSPO fighting for scraps in the European market. There is no meat for sustainable palm oil in the EU market as the painful financial problems of RSPO certified palm oil shows.
The RSPO enjoys wordy support from major European companies with claims of “93% of European palm oil imports certified by RSPO” according to the European group Sustainable Palm Oil Choice.
This has meant little for Malaysian producers of RSPO certified palm oil especially smallholders who are getting pennies in return for certification costs according to Reza Azmi from Wild Asia.
As we head into this year’s RSPO RT, a sobering reality sets in.
RSPO Grower Credits are at an all-time low — just USD 0.01–0.05 per MT CSPO.
Our WAGS farmers network currently has 47,000 MT of certified FFB (~10,000 MT CPO) unsold. At today’s market rates, these credits hardly cover certification costs, turning what was meant to reward sustainable production into a financial burden for independent producers.
Without price support for certified palm oil, the Malaysian palm oil industry will have to rely on a strong marketing campaign to disassociate its palm oil from the narratives employed by US based groups in order to cash in on the value of the MSPO.
Palm oil kills orangutans they said and causes global warming from deforestation for palm oil AND is bad for consumer health due to its high saturated fat content.
Up to this point, Malaysia has disproved those allegations with strong actions to exclude any palm oil industry activities that would threaten its forests or orangutans which is why the UK and EU have been acceptive of Malaysian palm oil as sustainably produced. To further make its case, the Plantation and Commodities Ministry (KPK) has applied for membership to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to provide a fact-based narrative of the palm oil industry.
This is a bold move to get the IUCN to correct its information on threats to wildlife. The orangutans in Borneo are red listed by the IUCN as Critically Endangered without acknowledging the fact that there are strong measures in the Malaysian side of Borneo to ensure their survival in the wild.
It should be fairly easy for Malaysia to prove that the orangutans in Malaysia are not facing extinction but the question is can Malaysia use the weight of the MSPO’s goodwill and the trade deal with the US which provided Malaysia a leg up over Indonesia with zero tariffs to expand market share?
On top of zero tariffs and orangutan conservation, the latest medical science on edible oils suggests that the US market is ripe for Malaysia to grow sales in a market where Malaysian palm oil is a very niche product.
If Malaysia’s Countering Anti-Palm Oil Campaign is to succeed in capturing more of the US market, it will have to ramp up media communications targeting US consumers at a furious pace in 2026. Trade shows and buyer meetings as planned under CAPOC are an important back end of an industry but consumer demand at the front end spearheaded by the MSPO is more important for any plans for market expansion.
Malaysia exported less than 200,000 tons of palm oil to the US in 2024. This is extremely low for a market that consumed over 20 million tons of edible oils and fats in the same period. The same dismal statistic applies to US imports of palm oil where Malaysian palm oil was a puny $183 million dollars out of a total $1.77 billion dollars in 2024.
The Malaysian Palm Oil Council which is responsible for marketing looks like it's starting to target US consumers as paid content is showing up in major US media platforms like CNN. Informercials like this are essential to dispel old medical science and media disinformation in the US.
By the way, doctor: Is palm oil good for you?
Palm oil is high in saturated fats and should be avoided for the sake of healthy diets according to old medical science from writers like Celeste Robb-Nicholson, MD from Harvard U who wrote "By the way, doctor: Is palm oil good for you?"
Her opinion has been dismissed by the average American who is returning to cooking oils like beef tallow which other Harvard U writers said was unhealthy.
Americans Are All In on Cow-Based Wellness based on this report by The Atlantic. This follows the return of lard and duck fat as a consumer trend away from seed oils in soy and corn.
Further cementing the case that saturated fats are not the evil for health as it was portrayed, is the latest study which criticized what was previously said about saturated fats as fat bashing.
What should really move US consumers towards cooking with oils higher in saturated fats is the latest report from the University of California, Riverside which prompted concern that the most popular cooking oil in the US is linked to the obesity crisis in America. Obesity has been linked to with higher risks of health problems, including diabetes, heart disease and strokes.
An older study by UC Riverside from 2020 had shown that soybean oil not only leads to obesity and diabetes, but could also affect neurological conditions like autism, Alzheimer’s disease, anxiety, and depression.
Used for fast food frying, added to packaged foods, and fed to livestock, soybean oil is by far the most widely produced and consumed edible oil in the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In all likelihood, it is not healthy for humans.
With so much going in its favor the big question for Malaysia is will it be able to cash in on the momentum?
Published December 2025 CSPO Watch
Malaysia has to capitalize on the momentum created by the global recognition of the MSPO as a mandatory certification standard and further distinguish itself as better than voluntary sustainability standards.
Lobby groups like the EIA with its constant criticism of voluntary certification schemes like the RSPO have damaged the credibility of palm oil certifications beyond recovery. In its latest criticism of the RSPO the EIA stated that:
Currently, companies’ deforestation commitments vary in scope and target dates and, crucially, are voluntary, leading to inconsistent progress and application.
Equally, voluntary certification schemes such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) have persistent compliance issues and enforcement gaps, as EIA’s Watchmen reports have highlighted. Without mandatory standards, there is no guarantee of real progress or accountability.
The EIA should find it refreshing that the MSPO as a mandatory standard for Malaysian palm oil has changed how sustainability certifications are enforced.
Malaysia has plans to gain market share in 2026 and rightfully identified negative narratives on sustainable palm oil from critics like the EIA as a primary target. If it is to parlay the global goodwill for the MSPO, the planned Countering Anti-Palm Campaigns (CAPOC) has to target markets where sustainability means something. The current primary markets for Malaysian palm oil in India, China or Kenya could care less about sustainability standards for palm oil.
Opportunities abound in the US
It would be reasonable to assume that the European Union with its much hyped up deforestation regulations would be a natural target for MSPO certified Malaysian palm oil. The problem for Malaysia is that Indonesian palm oil supplies dominates the EU’s palm imports. Indonesia gained an additional grip over the EU market when the EU and Indonesia signed a trade agreement which gave Indonesian palm oil preferential tariffs.
This could leave Malaysian companies armed with the EU-accepted MSPO fighting for scraps in the European market. There is no meat for sustainable palm oil in the EU market as the painful financial problems of RSPO certified palm oil shows.
The RSPO enjoys wordy support from major European companies with claims of “93% of European palm oil imports certified by RSPO” according to the European group Sustainable Palm Oil Choice.
This has meant little for Malaysian producers of RSPO certified palm oil especially smallholders who are getting pennies in return for certification costs according to Reza Azmi from Wild Asia.
As we head into this year’s RSPO RT, a sobering reality sets in.
RSPO Grower Credits are at an all-time low — just USD 0.01–0.05 per MT CSPO.
Our WAGS farmers network currently has 47,000 MT of certified FFB (~10,000 MT CPO) unsold. At today’s market rates, these credits hardly cover certification costs, turning what was meant to reward sustainable production into a financial burden for independent producers.
Without price support for certified palm oil, the Malaysian palm oil industry will have to rely on a strong marketing campaign to disassociate its palm oil from the narratives employed by US based groups in order to cash in on the value of the MSPO.
Palm oil kills orangutans they said and causes global warming from deforestation for palm oil AND is bad for consumer health due to its high saturated fat content.
Up to this point, Malaysia has disproved those allegations with strong actions to exclude any palm oil industry activities that would threaten its forests or orangutans which is why the UK and EU have been acceptive of Malaysian palm oil as sustainably produced. To further make its case, the Plantation and Commodities Ministry (KPK) has applied for membership to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to provide a fact-based narrative of the palm oil industry.
This is a bold move to get the IUCN to correct its information on threats to wildlife. The orangutans in Borneo are red listed by the IUCN as Critically Endangered without acknowledging the fact that there are strong measures in the Malaysian side of Borneo to ensure their survival in the wild.
It should be fairly easy for Malaysia to prove that the orangutans in Malaysia are not facing extinction but the question is can Malaysia use the weight of the MSPO’s goodwill and the trade deal with the US which provided Malaysia a leg up over Indonesia with zero tariffs to expand market share?
On top of zero tariffs and orangutan conservation, the latest medical science on edible oils suggests that the US market is ripe for Malaysia to grow sales in a market where Malaysian palm oil is a very niche product.
If Malaysia’s Countering Anti-Palm Oil Campaign is to succeed in capturing more of the US market, it will have to ramp up media communications targeting US consumers at a furious pace in 2026. Trade shows and buyer meetings as planned under CAPOC are an important back end of an industry but consumer demand at the front end spearheaded by the MSPO is more important for any plans for market expansion.
Malaysia exported less than 200,000 tons of palm oil to the US in 2024. This is extremely low for a market that consumed over 20 million tons of edible oils and fats in the same period. The same dismal statistic applies to US imports of palm oil where Malaysian palm oil was a puny $183 million dollars out of a total $1.77 billion dollars in 2024.
The Malaysian Palm Oil Council which is responsible for marketing looks like it's starting to target US consumers as paid content is showing up in major US media platforms like CNN. Informercials like this are essential to dispel old medical science and media disinformation in the US.
By the way, doctor: Is palm oil good for you?
Palm oil is high in saturated fats and should be avoided for the sake of healthy diets according to old medical science from writers like Celeste Robb-Nicholson, MD from Harvard U who wrote "By the way, doctor: Is palm oil good for you?"
Her opinion has been dismissed by the average American who is returning to cooking oils like beef tallow which other Harvard U writers said was unhealthy.
Americans Are All In on Cow-Based Wellness based on this report by The Atlantic. This follows the return of lard and duck fat as a consumer trend away from seed oils in soy and corn.
Further cementing the case that saturated fats are not the evil for health as it was portrayed, is the latest study which criticized what was previously said about saturated fats as fat bashing.
What should really move US consumers towards cooking with oils higher in saturated fats is the latest report from the University of California, Riverside which prompted concern that the most popular cooking oil in the US is linked to the obesity crisis in America. Obesity has been linked to with higher risks of health problems, including diabetes, heart disease and strokes.
An older study by UC Riverside from 2020 had shown that soybean oil not only leads to obesity and diabetes, but could also affect neurological conditions like autism, Alzheimer’s disease, anxiety, and depression.
Used for fast food frying, added to packaged foods, and fed to livestock, soybean oil is by far the most widely produced and consumed edible oil in the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In all likelihood, it is not healthy for humans.
With so much going in its favor the big question for Malaysia is will it be able to cash in on the momentum?
Published December 2025 CSPO Watch
Update December 18, 2025
Dr. Nina Teicholz, the author of the book, The Big Fat Surprise (Simon & Schuster 2014), caused a major controversy when she made the argument that modern nutrition science, over the past 60 years, has been wrong about dietary fat.
In her latest article, Dr. Teicholz declared that The war on saturated fat, never based on good science, can now end.
Dr. Nina Teicholz, the author of the book, The Big Fat Surprise (Simon & Schuster 2014), caused a major controversy when she made the argument that modern nutrition science, over the past 60 years, has been wrong about dietary fat.
In her latest article, Dr. Teicholz declared that The war on saturated fat, never based on good science, can now end.