17/11/2010 (The Borneo Post), Kuching - Homegrown group, Keresa remains committed towards meeting global standards via its participation in the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

Through its plantation unit, Keresa Plantations Sdn Bhd (Keresa Plantations), the group received its RSPO certification recently, after embarking on the programme two years ago.

As such, the group is looking at achieving around 27,000 tonnes per hectare (ha) of production with oil extraction output of about 23 per cent.

“Based on the forecast, we are well above the industrial average. The certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO) production is about 33,000 tonnes a year,” said Graeme Iain Brown, the managing director of Keresa Plantations and Keresa Mill Sdn Bhd (Keresa Mill) in a press conference held in conjunction of the presentation of RSPO certification ceremony at Tun Jugah Tower yesterday.

Brown pointed out that right now, the total group’s landbank is about 22,000 ha; 6,000 ha is fully planted and the group has another 4,000 ha under developments so the group still has another 11,000 ha to plant.

“Although we’re still considered a very small group in Sarawak but we are very efficient,” Brown added.

When asked if Keresa Plantations had started to export its products, he revealed that the group had not done so as of now, but added that it was still in discussion with various refineries.

“We are waiting to put in place an agreement, which should be in the next couple of weeks,” Brown said.

Furthermore, Brown stressed that the group did not restrict its scope with regards to product exports.

“We are looking at exporting our products to all parties. It is the European market that drove us in the direction of RSPO certification in the first place because of the restrictions they put in place for palm oil.

“But frankly speaking, we are quite open to sell to any country in the world. The market is so huge for palm oil,” he highlighted.

“I think the demand for crude palm oil (CPO) is still there and I think the price of the CPO can be sustained,” Brown said.

Meanwhile, Jeremy Goon from Wilmar International Ltd, who is also on the executive board of RSPO, representing the Malaysia Palm Oil Council (MPOC) said the RSPO certification was basically the standard that was accepted by many of the big multi-national companies (MNC) in the world which were big buyers.

“It is also significant because not many plantations in Sarawak have managed to obtain the RSPO certification.

“So far, in the whole world, you have 45 million tonnes of palm oil which is produced and only 3.2 million tonnes is certified. So it is about seven per cent of the global production,” Goon added.

He further noted that of the 3.2 million tonnes of certified palm oil, approximately 65 per cent came from Malaysia.

“The Indonesian plantations find it a little more difficult to be certified because the Malaysian plantations are older. There are more rules pertaining to newer plantations,” Goon said.

He pointed out that besides Malaysia being a major producer of palm oil, the rest came from Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

Goon believed that there were some companies trying to get certification soon in South America namely Brazil and Colombia, as well as Thailand.

He added that there were certain parts of African countries which would come on board but it would not be that soon.

Goon stated that based on location, the demand for RSPO certification was a very European-centric thing.

“I also note that there are many multi-national companies which have headquarters in Europe and the US but carry out their operations in China and India.

“These companies are getting units over there to also demand for sustainable palm oil. It will take a little but more time in those countries but once you see the multi-national companies in China and India demanding for these things, many local companies will also follow suit and it is my opinion that if China wants to do something, they can do things faster than anyone else which we have seen in many examples,” he highlighted.