MARKET DEVELOPMENT
Palm Oil Standards: Let Cool Heads Prevail
Palm Oil Standards: Let Cool Heads Prevail
13/01/2014 (Business Times) - In 2004, the world's palm oil industry saw the arrival of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).
Touted as the world's most successful commodity alliance, RSPO set new standards on what and what not to do in the sustainable development and growing of oil palm under its very own set of rules, called principles and criterias.
RSPO is a not-for-profit association that unites stakeholders from seven industry sectors to ensure its long-term sustainability.
The parties involved are palm oil producers, palm oil processors or traders, consumer goods manufacturers, retailers, banks and investors, environmental and non-environmental and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
However, nine years down the road, discontentment started to rumble from Indonesia and Malaysia, the world's top two palm oil producers.
The two countries have accused the RSPO of having strayed from what it was supposed to do in the first place, which is for the betterment of the sectors, instead of being biased, skewed and favouring only the European consumers and the NGOs.
So much so that Indonesia went to set up its own Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) two years ago, which, to date, has been succesful.
Malaysia, in turn, will see the launch of its very own Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) standard this year.
It is an open secret among players that Indonesia and Malaysia do not see eye to eye with some of the certification RSPO processes.
Things took an interesting turn last month when Malaysian Palm Oil Council chief executive officer Tan Sri Dr Yusof Basiron was taken to task by the Malaysian Palm Oil NGO Coalition for excluding NGOs from having their say in the MSPO.
It's time that all parties let cool heads prevail and find an amicable solution because in the end, all these three certification processes may confuse the end-consumers at a European supermarket.
The consumers could be confused as there are now three sets of standards to choose from before they decide to buy.
Which one should they follow? Is one standard better than the other?
In the end, it doesn't really matter because all the three standards have a common aim - to see the sustainable production of palm oil which will add to the long-term betterment of the industry.
When asked if the MSPO and the ISPO are a threat to RSPO, secretary-general Darrel Webber aptly said: "It doesn't really matter whether it is the RSPO, MSPO or ISPO. What matters most is that with all these certifications, the bar on the industry standard has been raised higher and the base criteria is not so low any more for the benefit of all parties".
Touted as the world's most successful commodity alliance, RSPO set new standards on what and what not to do in the sustainable development and growing of oil palm under its very own set of rules, called principles and criterias.
RSPO is a not-for-profit association that unites stakeholders from seven industry sectors to ensure its long-term sustainability.
The parties involved are palm oil producers, palm oil processors or traders, consumer goods manufacturers, retailers, banks and investors, environmental and non-environmental and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
However, nine years down the road, discontentment started to rumble from Indonesia and Malaysia, the world's top two palm oil producers.
The two countries have accused the RSPO of having strayed from what it was supposed to do in the first place, which is for the betterment of the sectors, instead of being biased, skewed and favouring only the European consumers and the NGOs.
So much so that Indonesia went to set up its own Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) two years ago, which, to date, has been succesful.
Malaysia, in turn, will see the launch of its very own Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) standard this year.
It is an open secret among players that Indonesia and Malaysia do not see eye to eye with some of the certification RSPO processes.
Things took an interesting turn last month when Malaysian Palm Oil Council chief executive officer Tan Sri Dr Yusof Basiron was taken to task by the Malaysian Palm Oil NGO Coalition for excluding NGOs from having their say in the MSPO.
It's time that all parties let cool heads prevail and find an amicable solution because in the end, all these three certification processes may confuse the end-consumers at a European supermarket.
The consumers could be confused as there are now three sets of standards to choose from before they decide to buy.
Which one should they follow? Is one standard better than the other?
In the end, it doesn't really matter because all the three standards have a common aim - to see the sustainable production of palm oil which will add to the long-term betterment of the industry.
When asked if the MSPO and the ISPO are a threat to RSPO, secretary-general Darrel Webber aptly said: "It doesn't really matter whether it is the RSPO, MSPO or ISPO. What matters most is that with all these certifications, the bar on the industry standard has been raised higher and the base criteria is not so low any more for the benefit of all parties".