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.