Section 2 : Special Focus on the US:
US Palm Oil Market and Opportunities
Mr. Benjamin J. Perez
2012 – Present Global Agri-Trade Corporation Rancho Dominguez, CA
Direct of Sales (2012- Present)
- Overseeing food sales division.
- Responsible for overall national sales plans, supervising regional sales managers.
- Coordinate and engages with logistics and sourcing teams to execute product flow and inventory for USA
- Assists regional quality assurance managers on product quality and product development.
- Guiding thecompanies sustainability efforts across all market channels.
National Account Manager (2012- 2018)
- Developed national sales strategy for the company’s commodity food oil division. Emphasis on palm and coconut oil and their derivatives.
- Pioneered company educational seminar series working with foreign government agencies to promote industry knowledge on palm oil and sustainability.
- Initiated and developed market and product initiative for two additional lines to company portfolio; dry fats and retail product lines.
- Lead team working with global distribution client for oils and fats.
- Pioneered brand with a national distribution partner drove company brand from 1 to 9 different sales markets.
The USA Palm Oil Market has grown considerably since the early 2000’s. With the US roughly 5% of the world’s 7.9 billion people, and consumption at 20% of the world’s energies; it is easy to see why the USA remains an attractive marketplace. Palm oil had a relatively quiet entry into US but has since seen a rise with regulation being an initial primary driver on demand for palm oil products. With New York City banning the use of artificial trans fats in 2008 and California becoming the 1st state following suit in 2010; many consumer-packaged groups were leading the trend of elimination of trans fats in their formulations. Trans fats had been in a majority of packaged processed foods by way of partially hydrogenated fats and oils. The final death knell was the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announcement that partially hydrogenated fats were no longer Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS). FDA implemented a 3-year window by 2018 to accomplish such a task. With GRAS status removed, and palm oil being economically enticing and bountiful it became the most ideal solution for most formulators. Palm oil can be found in most packaged foods; such as margarines, baked goods, cookies, cakes, muffins, cereals, confectioneries, creamers, spreads and nut butters, personal care products and fry and cooking oils.
US Oils and Fats consumption is around 24 million MT in 2019 with imports of palm oil taking up 6 percentage points of the total. Soybean leading the way at 43% of total consumption. Of the imported oils; palm oil comprising of the second largest of all imported oils at 1.5 Million MT.
Recent trends in the market are focused on sustainability amongst the rallying charges of NGO’s and consumer advocacy groups. Emerging trends in natural food and beverage have been drawn to palm oil’s natural benefits and stability. We see more and more entries for usage in analog and substitute meat products. Of course, all has impacted by the equalizer of covid-19. US being the center of the highest infection and death-rate has been felt throughout the country. Economies came to a crawl in industries as foodservice, hospitality, and travel. Global pandemic has had severe implications on trade imbalance and have created huge rise in commodity pricing indexes as well pressure on demand for global freight. As the increase in vaccinations distribution and less stringent lock-downs are lifted, a return to more prosperous market shall trend forward.
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