ANKARA (Commodity Online): Appreciation of palm oil in Turkey is seen increasing due to growing population and rising exports of halal foods.

Metin Yurdagul, chairman of Turkey’s Kitchen Products and Margarine Industrialists Association was quoted by Dow Jones Newswires that the as compared to animal fat, palm oil with less fat-saturation would drive people to switch to palm oil.

Turkey currently buys 500,000-600,000 tons of refined palm oil a year from Malaysia and Indonesia. As it seeks to gain a bigger share of the $2.1 trillion global halal foods market, palm oil imports could rise to 1 million tons in the next ten years, Yurdagul said.

Palm oil currently accounts for about 38% of Turkey’s annual edible oils consumption of 1.6 million tons and that share may rise as domestic oilseeds output continues to lag behind domestic demand, he said.