28/11/2011 (The Star) - The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) grouping has described its recently concluded 9th Annual Roundtable Meeting (RT9) as a success given the growing number of its members as well as the record attendance of about 1,000 delegates at the international sustainable palm oil event.

RSPO secretary-general Darrel Webber said stakeholders from the entire palm oil supply chain globally had put aside their qualms on the RSPO, hence generating a sense of solidarity at the event.

“There is strong focus and support for the RSPO. All members have agreed to share the responsibility.

“More importantly, more Western consumers have made serious pledges towards purchasing the RSPO certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO) by 2015 and some even agreed to do it much earlier,” Webber added.

Furthermore, many oil palm plantation companies and investors had expressed willingness to help oil palm smallholders in the growing regions by funding their RSPO certification cost.

Webber pointed out that huge efforts were also seen in the RSPO greenhouse gases (GHG) working group which had come up with a calculator to measure the foot print of planters on the per tonne of CPO basis, while new emerging economies like India and China have also indicated interests to purchase the CSPO.

Webber also said that the current CSPO production at 5.2 million tonnes was in a surplus situation when compared with the demand from the Western countries.

“Buyers are still not buying enough but the RSPO is positive that our newly launched RSPO trademark last year will be able to create more awareness and also the demand for CSPO,” he added.

He said currently, there were applications for the use of the RSPO trademark from 11 countries.

Webber also assured demand for CSPO would continue to grow as “the RSPO certification is gaining significant impact not only among the Malaysian and Indonesian oil palm growers, but also new oil palm growing areas like Thailand, Africa and South America.”

Meanwhile, Netherlands-based Product Board for Margarine, Fats and Oils (MVO) chairman Wim Oosterhuis said more Western palm oil consuming nations were making serious commitments to increase their offtakes for CSPO.