Palm oil crisis hits thanks to…ethanol?

Maybe I’m off base with this one, but if any article were to highlight the need for understanding the subject matter, it’s this one: The Australian’s Leo Lewis attributes a crisis in Malaysian palm oil supplies to ethanol production in his headline. It’s a perfectly valid point, except for the small fact that palm oil is used to produce much of the world’s biodiesel, not ethanol.

It might be nitpicking, but if the people who report the news don’t understand the difference, then what chance do the people who read it have?