04/05/2016 (Bernama) - Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV) and Lembaga Felda (Felda Group) have withdrawn the Roundtable Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) Principles and Criteria (P&C) certificates of 58 mills located throughout Malaysia, effective today.

In a statement today, the group said it would remain a member of RSPO and continued its commitment to RSPO P&C.

"We voluntarily withdraw from RSPO P&C certificates to address the sustainability issues in our supply chain. We remain committed to RSPO P&C," said Group President and Chief Executive Officer Datuk Zakaria Arshad.

The exercise did not affect Felda Group and FGV's RSPO Supply Chain Certification System of their kernel crushing plants and downstream refineries, he said.

"This exercise only affects the upstream mills and will affect less than one per cent of FGV revenues," said Zakaria.

He said the exercise was to allow a more inclusive certification between commercially-managed plantations by FGV and Felda smallholders.

"Under the recertification time-bound plan, we will progressively recertify our mills within three years. The smallholders will immensely benefit from the best sustainable plantation practices programme," he said.

Zakaria said based on the recent developments in the sustainability arena, the group foresaw some potential risks in its supply chain which also included 102,100 smallholders plantation under Felda Settlers Scheme.

"Therefore we intend to make some structural changes in our RSPO certification approach and also review certain policies," he said.