Twix Chocolate Bars Threatened by Indonesian Drought
B. McPherson Are you killing the orangutans? Demand clean palm oil. The palm oil industry in tropical south east Asia has been hit by a severe drought. Rainfall has dropped to levels not seen in over a decade. The oil palms are very sensitive to lack of water and adapt by producing fewer and smaller fruits which, crushed, are the source of palm oil. Indonesia normally produces 86% of the world’s supply of this versatile oil. Twix chocolate bars are a small fraction of the uses industry has for this oil. Widely used in the food industry, palm oil is also found in many cosmetics and used as biodiesel in some countries. The two largest consumers of palm oil, India and China, are facing steep increases in the price of the commodity as production has fallen 12%. Some shortfall may be made up by competing oils produced in the Western Hemisphere, canola and soybean oil. The agricultural industry has been hit in other areas as well with a falling off of rice and coffee produ...