Oil Palm Supply & Sales
Credit: RSPO
Supply (green) and sales (orange) of RSPO-certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO) over the twelve-month period ending last month. After a slow start, sales have taken off since the spring of 2009.

Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis)
Credit: Franz Eugen Köhler/Wikipedia
Illustration taken from Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen (1887). Original caption in German: "A Habitusbild der ganzen Pflanze. B Männlicher Blütenstand. C Einzelzweig des männlichen Blütenstandes D Teil eines weiblichen Blütenstandes. E Fruchtstand. 1 Knospe; 2 männliche Blüte; 3 dieselbe im Längsschnitt; 4 Staminaltubus; 5 weibliche Blüte; 6 dieselbe im Längsschnitt; 7 Fruchtknoten im Querschnitt; 8 Frucht; 9 dieselbe, nachdem die obere Hälfte des Fruchtfleisches entfernt ist; 10 Steinkern im Querschnitt; 11 derselbe im Längsschnitt; 12 ein zweisamiger Steinkern im Querschnitt; 13 Same; 14 derselbe im Querschnitt; 15 derselbe im Längsschnitt."

Oil palm fruit bunches
Credit: Cede Prudente
The oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) is a highly efficient oil producer. Freshly cut fruit bunches can weigh up to 50 kilograms each. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) promotes the growth and use of palm oil that is produced in a socially and environmentally sustainable way.

Oil palm fruit, close-up (#1)
Credit: MPOC
The oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) is a highly efficient oil producer. Its fruits contain about 50 percent oil. When freshly pressed, the oil has a reddish color.

Oil palm fruit, close-up (#2)
Credit: MPOC
The oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) is a highly efficient oil producer. Its fruits contain about 50 percent oil. When freshly pressed, the oil has a reddish color.
Cultivation of oil palms requires far less land than that of any other vegetable oil-producing crop. One hectare planted with oil palms can yield up to six tonnesof oil per year. Since 2003, about half of the world's palm oil farmers and processors, together with retailers and leading environmental and social NGOs such as WWF and Oxfam International, have come together in the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

Oil palm fruit cut in half, close-up (#3)
Credit: MPOC
The oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) is a highly efficient oil producer. Its fruits contain about 50 percent oil. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) promotes the growth and use of palm oil that is produced in a socially and environmentally sustainable way.

Workers on Sabah oil palm plantation (#1)
Credit: Cede Prudente
Workers at a plantation in Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) promotes the growth and use of palm oil that is produced in a socially and environmentally sustainable way.

Worker on oil palm plantation (#2)
Credit: United Plantations
Oil palms (Elaeis guineensis) are highly efficient, year-round oil producers. Freshly cut fruit bunches, each weighing up to 50 kilograms, are pressed in mills to collect the oil. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) promotes the growth and use of palm oil that is produced in a socially and environmentally sustainable way.

A tanker is loaded with RSPO-certified sustainable palm oil (#1)
Credit: United Plantations
An oil tanker is loaded with 500 tonnes of RSPO-certified sustainable palm oil in Port Klang, Selangor, Malaysia. The first shipment of sustainable palm oil arrived in the Port of Rotterdam late November, 2008.

A tanker is loaded with RSPO-certified sustainable palm oil (#3)
Credit: United Plantations
An oil tanker is loaded with 500 tonnes of RSPO-certified sustainable palm oil in Port Klang, Selangor, Malaysia. The first shipment of sustainable pam oil arrived in the Port of Rotterdam late November, 2008.