US wants to displace oil as transport fuel "for good"

Khor Reports: US plans research and new technology to get its cars and trucks off oil "for good" by focusing mostly on electricity and natural gas as alternatives.First generation bio-fuels, including palm biodiesel are facing challenges on various fronts, including the environmental. Instead, waste feedstocks are increasingly in vogue. The US energy renaissance is set to make its industry more globally competitive with energy a fraction of its old cost. There is a widespread view that the transport fuel sector will remain business-as-usual. If the new US R&D plan bears fruit, does that still hold true? The global energy market is big. Is the US move more likely to impact its own gas prices and keep international petrol prices relatively high?   

News link: ; "US President Barack Obama proposed using some federal oil and gas revenue to fund an energy security trust that would support “research and technology to shift our cars and trucks off oil for good.”..fund would be strictly focused on pursuing technologies to displace oil in transportation, particularly electricity and natural gas. SAFE’s proposal also called for yearly contributions to be capped.."; http://www.ogj.com/articles/2013/02/obama-calls-for-using-some-oil--gas-revenue-to-get-cars-off-oil-.html?cmpid=EnlDailyFebruary132013

RTRS smartly moves ahead

RTRS is looking more like a market-oriented certification scheme for soy than its cousin, the RSPO is for palm products. Both certification programs are the brainchild of the WWF. Palm oil and soybean oil are key competitors in the edible oil market.

Pertinent points and early news indicates:

a) RTRS is a simpler certification scheme, with areal percentage certified up to each grower to decide vs. RSPO's mandatory 100% areal certification.

b) The RTRS market-oriented approach shows early results with 90+% uptake vs about 50% at RSPO (current and for forseeable future on RSPO's own forecast); and this points to less resource wastage in over-certification. The RSPO suffers a certificate glut problem.
c) It is notable that early shipments are going to a buyer consortium, which points to some concerted marketing effort at RTRS, which is a contrast to the RSPO experience. 

d) Furthermore, the RSPO and its associates appear to be lobbying for higher tariffs against non-RSPO certified palm oil in some key import markets. They seek official acceptance and promotion of the voluntary standard. Could this make "involuntary" what was touted as "voluntary"? If so, this does not serve the interest of non-RSPO members, which are largely small estates and smallholders / farmers. So far, the RSPO's priority and bias has been to promote the largest corporate growers.

e) Note RTRS's tie-up with a consumer market certification for supply chain and its apparent focus on mass balance in its supply chain, ahead of segregation ie. an effort to quickly get RTRS certified soy to market? At the RSPO, the push has been for segregation with inevitable delay and added cost to reach markets, while book & claim and mass balance are seen as temporary options.

News source: 

http://mobile.foodnavigator.com/Financial-Industry/RTRS-and-GMP-sign-responsible-soy-certification-agreement/?utm_source=Newsletter_Product&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter%2BProduct&c=g5U1F%2FHXoYrluABmdTwN18GsLbIiO6iW#.UQCRZaNuvJs

Foods & ingredients news snippets

We have been keeping an eye on interesting news items about palm oil in end use products. These include promotion of red palm oil for deep-frying and other uses sans-colorant, Barry Callebout's RSPO-certified palm oil based cocoa products fully segregated in Europe and via mass balance in Asia-Pacific, and Unilever's Magnum ice cream EUR 1 billion sales but emerging concerns about ingredients in ice cream.

Keep updated via Khor Reports at facebook, weblink: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Khor-Reports/116785031706985

Recent news snippets include:

SternRed: product promotes red palm oil as colour and heat-stable, flavour-neutral... "can be used as a problem-free substitute for synthetic colourings like beta-carotene. It also offers price advantages over other colorant ingredients like carrot extract. When used for deep-frying it gives crisps and chips a golden-yellow colouring..." RSPO-certified. http://www.foodingredientsfirst.com/headlines/Sternchemie-Eyes-Red-Palm-Oil-as-Natural-Colorant-with-Added-Value.html

source: Sternchemie website

Barry Callebaut: offers fully segregated RSPO-cert palm oil based cocoa and chocolate products in Europe and mass balance versions in Asia-Pacific (and Americas soon). http://www.foodingredientsfirst.com/product-by-sector/Chocolate-Confectionery/Barry-Callebaut-Switching-to-RSPO-Certified-Palm-Oil-For-Compounds-and-Fillings.html

Unilever: Full-year underlying sales growth 6.9% comprising 3.4% volume and 3.3% price increases. Magnum ice cream passes Eur 1 billion sales mark.
http://mobile.foodnavigator-usa.com/Business/Unilever-CEO-Magnum-is-one-of-the-greatest-success-stories-in-the-history-of-consumer-goods/?utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Newsletter%2BDaily&c=g5U1F%2FHXoYqtmOc4jdtDX833yEMJsfBM#.UQR6c_L-uSp

Ice cream: there is concern consumers may start to balk at the ingredients. "There can't be a child in Britain who doesn't know that ice cream is made from gloriously rich, frozen double cream, sugar and sometimes eggs ? after all, it's there in the name, isn't it? Ice cream. Or is it? Most people would lose their appetite pretty quickly if they knew what actually went into some of the thousands of tubs of ice cream that are sold from supermarket freezer cabinets every day..." http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-393432/The-chilling-truth-ice-cream.html