Frequently asked questions

They come from the same fruit but are different oils. Palm oil is pressed from the orange flesh (mesocarp) and is used mainly for cooking oils and food fats. Palm kernel oil is crushed from the seed inside the nut and is a lauric oil — chemically closer to coconut oil — used in confectionery coatings, soaps and cosmetics.

Refined, Bleached and Deodorised — the standard refining sequence that turns crude palm oil into neutral, food-grade oil. RBD palm oil can then be fractionated into RBD palm olein (the liquid cooking-oil fraction) and RBD palm stearin (the solid fat fraction).

At minimum: FFA (free fatty acids, freshness), IV (iodine value — the grade, e.g. IV56 or IV64), M&I (moisture and impurities), colour (Lovibond), and cloud point if your market is cool. Always demand a certificate of analysis and reconcile it against the contract specification before payment.

The global benchmark is the Bursa Malaysia FCPO futures contract, quoted in ringgit per tonne. Physical cargoes trade at negotiated premiums or discounts to it. Malaysia's MPOB publishes official daily and monthly prices, and Indonesia's trade ministry sets a monthly reference price that drives its export levy and duty.

The big drivers are production cycles in Indonesia and Malaysia (weather, El Niño), stock levels, demand from India and China, prices of competing oils (especially soybean oil), crude oil and biodiesel policy, currencies (ringgit and rupiah), and trade policy such as Indonesia's export levy or an export ban. Our homepage model weighs these daily.

Both support certified sustainable production, but differently. Segregated means the physical oil you receive is certified oil, kept separate through the whole chain. Mass Balance allows certified and conventional oil to mix physically while certified volumes are tracked on paper — cheaper, and the volume claim is real, but the molecules in your tank may not be. SG typically commands a higher premium than MB.

The EU Deforestation Regulation requires palm products placed on the EU market to be proven deforestation-free (against a 2020 cut-off) and traceable to geolocated plantation plots, with a due-diligence statement filed by the operator. If you sell into the EU, your suppliers must be able to provide plot-level geolocation data — start asking for it now.

Four main ways: flexitanks (a bladder in a 20-ft container, ~20–24 t, the mid-size workhorse), ISO tank containers (cleaner, reusable), drums or IBC totes (small lots and specialty fats), and chartered parcel-tanker vessels for bulk (thousands of tonnes). Solid fats like shortenings and CBS ship as cartons in dry containers.

Letters of credit (LC at sight) are the standard for new relationships — the bank releases payment against conforming shipping documents. Established counterparties may move to documents-against-payment or partial advance terms. Be wary of any unknown seller asking for large clean advances.

Palm Fatty Acid Distillate is the free-fatty-acid stream removed during refining. It trades at a discount to CPO and is bought for biodiesel feedstock, soap making, animal-feed energy and vitamin-E extraction.

A hard, sharp-melting fat made from palm kernel stearin (usually hydrogenated) that behaves like cocoa butter in chocolate-style coatings without tempering. It is the economic backbone of compound chocolate, wafer coatings and filling creams.

Palm oil is roughly half saturated fat, so at room temperature it sits between liquid oil and solid fat. That natural consistency is exactly why industry values it: fractionation splits it into a stable liquid (olein) and a hard fat (stearin) without hydrogenation.

No. We publish benchmark data, indicative refinery price levels and clearly-labelled model estimates for information only. Firm, tradeable quotes come from suppliers — our desk connects you to them through the Connect page.

Use the Connect page: tell us the product and grade, volume, destination port, incoterm and target shipment month. Our sourcing desk matches the inquiry with refineries and traders and responds within one business day.