Supply Chain
The supply chain of palm oil is hardly dissimilar to the supply chains of most of the other products that are produced on Earth. The are four main stages; plantation, product manufactures, processing and retailers. The 'plantation' stage is where the fruit is harvested in the remote oil palm tree plantations. This is where the forest and wildlife destruction occurs. The next stage is 'product manufacturers'. This stage involves the purchasing of the palm fruit by companies; with regards to palm oil, are usually international companies. The third stage is the 'processing' stage. During this stage, the palm fruit is transported by various means to processing plants, where palm oil is produced from the flesh and palm kernel oil is produced from the kernels of the fruit. The oil may then be further refined to produce a variety of different derivatives of palm oil to suit different intentions. The fourth and final stage is the 'retailers' stage. This is the stage in which the final product of palm oil is sold in a huge and varied range to consumers all around the globe. This process can be seen below in Figure 13. Demonstrate Traceability at Every Stop of the Chain.