Hindustan Unilever's decision to reduce the use of palm oil in soap manufacturing marks APOA

18-Jun-2024 05:44 PM

Mumbai. Hindustan Unilever (HUL), a leading company in the FMCG sector, has announced plans to reduce the use of palm oil by 25 percent in the manufacture of its branded soaps.

The company has cited rising prices of palm oil and environmental concerns as the reason for this. The company intends to increase the use of cheaper alternatives instead of palm oil.

But the Asian Palm Oil Alliance (APOA) has expressed serious concern over the company's decision and said that this may have a serious adverse effect on the interests of millions of oil palm producers globally and especially small farmers.

APOA is making serious efforts globally to ensure the livelihood of oil palm producers, while HUL's decision may give a huge setback to this effort.

The General Secretary of the Asian Palm Oil Alliance (APOA) has urged Hindustan Unilever to reconsider this decision and said that this can badly affect the income of lakhs of small farmers dependent on oil palm cultivation, so this decision should be withdrawn.

APOA has sent a letter to the company and made it aware of its concerns. It has been said that reducing the share of palm oil in soap manufacturing by 25 percent is not practical.

According to the letter, it is true that the price of palm oil is currently higher than the pre-corona level, but this is the result of the increase in input cost. Apart from this, the change in the prices of soybean oil and sunflower oil also affects palm oil.