6 Million Metric Tonnes World Record For RSPO Certified Sustainable Palm Oil

There were 11 new palm oil mills certified in the first quarter of 2012, recording a total number of 146 mills certified to date amongst 30 producer organizations or growers primarily from Malaysia and Indonesia, and increasingly from Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Latin America, and West Africa.

20 April 2012 --- The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), an international multi stakeholder initiative, has achieved yet another milestone with over 6 million metric tonnes of CSPO produced worldwide in less than 4 years since RSPO certification began.

The 20% growth rate achieved within just half a year, in terms of both CSPO production area (1,221,240 hectares to date) and CSPO annual production capacity (6,017,193 metric tonnes to date), is unparalleled for a sustainable commodity. There were 11 new palm oil mills certified in the first quarter of 2012, recording a total number of 146 mills certified to date amongst 30 producer organizations or growers primarily from Malaysia and Indonesia, and increasingly from Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Latin America, and West Africa.

RSPO Secretary General Darrel Webber commented that: “The market transformation towards sustainable palm oil is accelerating at a significant pace. The RSPO takes this opportunity to applaud our Indonesian grower members for their continuous drive towards sustainability as they have overtaken Malaysia and now lead the pack as the number one producer of CSPO both in terms of volume and production area. Both producer markets together with the new frontiers play a significant role in conserving the interests of our environment, our communities and the world we live in.

“Interest from new members across geographies has been phenomenal – more than 100 new members joined the RSPO during the first quarter of this year, mostly from the European region and primarily from Germany and France, which we hope will continue to strengthen the demand for CSPO. Although much has been achieved, the industry is still confronted with many challenges and thus the RSPO aims to continue its commitment to guide and inspire affirmative transformation”, Webber further stated.

On the demand for CSPO, Adam Harrison, WWF Senior Policy Officer and RSPO Executive Board Member and Vice President commented that: “While this is great news from the producer members showing their real and growing commitment to sustainability, what we must see now is matching action from palm oil users. The way the rest of the supply chain can show their commitment is to make time bound plans within their Annual Communications of Progress to the RSPO and then follow these up urgently with real purchases of CSPO.”

The growth in the number of certified growers reflects the findings of the recent report produced by WWF entitled ‘Profitability and Sustainability in Palm Oil Production’, http://www.worldwildlife.org/what/globalmarkets/intfinance/WWFBinaryitem27563.pdf

“Our research showed that the benefits of embracing sustainability outweigh the costs incurred. We hope that this will further reinforce to growers those responsible practices that are good for the environment is also commercially advantageous for growers.” Harrison concluded.