Malaysia took Gabon's forest

The markets of West Africa import 1.9m tonnes of palm oil every year, used mainly for cooking, according to a March 2016 report from Lagos-based newspaper Mail&Guardian Africa. The commodity currently fetches around $686 per tonne, and in recent years the price has been relatively stable. Given the substantial demand, Gabon is hoping to displace Malaysia and Indonesia – the two largest producers in the world – as the region’s main supplier of palm oil after adopting techniques learned in Ghana and Nigeria.

field palm destroys forest in Gabon

The biggest plans under way are those of Singapore-based Olam International, whose Olam Palm Gabon is targeting export earnings of $625m, which is the approximate size of the country’s yearly food import bill. Other moves in the market include India’s 3F Oil Palm Agrotech’s intention to invest $200m in greenfield operations, while SIAT Gabon, a subsidiary of Belgium-based Société d’Investissement pour l’ Agriculture Tropicale, is looking to exit. The IMF believes that planned investments in cash crops will help GDP growth recover from 3.2% for 2016 to 5% in the medium term.