ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the trade dimension, but it should be clearly understood at the outset that beneath the dramatic and highly visible pattern of the sea change in trading networks lies a groundswell of profound transformation in both end uses and palm oil production methods. The spectacular growth of Malaysia's palm oil industry since 1960 provides an exceptional case study of economic success in a tropical setting. Western consumers were already affluent and well fed, and Western populations were growing relatively slowly by comparison with those in the developing world, where the consumption per capita of edible oils and fats could also be expected to rise as prosperity increased. Firstly, Indonesian exports began to grow again; and secondly, American producers of soyabean oil, palm oil's main competitor in world trade, began to wage a propaganda campaign to win consumer hearts and minds.
