Ageing trees show a crisis looms for the world’s everything oil

KUALA LUMPUR: Across swathes of South-East Asia, maturing palm oil trees, some as tall as a 12-storey building, are turning into a multi-billion dollar headache for local farmers, regional governments and consumers everywhere.

As oil palms approach their commercial lifespan of a quarter-century, they provide less of the versatile edible oil, used in everything from ice cream to cosmetics and fuel.