COLOMBO / MUMBAI (Reuters) – Sri Lanka banned the import of palm oil and new palm plantations on Monday and urged producers to gradually uproot the existing plantations, in a surprise move that surprised the edible oil industry.
Palm oil imports and the number of plantations have been increasing in recent years in Sri Lanka, a leading producer of coconut oil.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa, President of Sri Lanka, said in a statement that the aim was to “free the country from oil palm plantation and consumption of palm oil.”
Environmentalists say palm oil production has led to widespread deforestation and damage to ecosystems.
Sri Lanka imports about 200,000 tonnes of palm oil annually, mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia.
“Some of the enterprises and entities that carry out such (palm oil) operations must be removed in a phased manner with 10% uprooting at a time and replaced by the cultivation of rubber or environmentally friendly crops every year,” reads the statement from presidential office said.
Sri Lanka’s palm oil industry has invested 26 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($ 131 million) and the country has about 11,000 hectares of palm plantations – just over 1% of the total area planted with tea, rubber and coconut, according to estimates by the country’s Palm. Oil Industry Association.
($ 1 = 199,0000 Sri Lankan Rupees)
Reporting by Waruna Karunatilake in COLOMBO and Rajendra Jadhav in MUMBAI. Edited by Mark Potter