RSPO Commends Collaboration on Sustainable Palm Oil in Europe

05 Aug 2013 --- The international multi-stakeholder association, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) commends recently announced collaboration amongst three of the world’s leading players in the palm oil sector to provide a wide range of fully traceable, segregated sustainable palm oil for the European market.

The collaboration between Olenex C.V — which is a joint venture between Archer Daniels Midland Company and Wilmar International Limited — and New Britain Palm Oil Limited (NBPOL) is strategically well timed as the industry moves towards targets of using only sustainable palm oil in the future. The commitment towards 100% certified sustainable palm oil has been made by a combination of industry players including national governments in the Netherlands; Belgium; United Kingdom and France

Darrel Webber, RSPO Secretary General commented on the partnership by saying: “The shift to sustainable palm is a significant global transformation which hinges on the cooperation of all players. RSPO’s goal in the past decade since its inception is to be the driving force behind this paradigm shift. This partnership is a pioneering and unprecedented collaboration amongst top palm oil supply chain operators in offering the widest range of palm oil fractions to the world’s third largest importer of palm oil.

“The current uptake of certified sustainable palm oil stands at slightly over 50%. Leadership initiatives such as this partnership will help steer convergence from the demand side of the supply chain in taking tangible action towards certified sustainable palm oil (currently over 8 million metric tonnes) across many producing nations who have embraced the RSPO standard as an international benchmark.” Webber commented.

Nick Thompson, CEO of New Britain Palm Oil Limited commented: “As an organization in the fore front of innovation in responsible practices – we are constantly pursuing new strategies to motivate and expand the sustainable agenda in the palm oil sector. This collaboration is not just primarily about securing and fulfilling market needs and demands; it is also a demonstration of how organizations can come together in synergizing and leveraging their respective network, capabilities and product range to serve a greater agenda.”

Martin Kropp, Member of the Management Board of Olenex, added: “This partnership underscores our commitment to responsible and sustainable agricultural development by supplying RSPO-certified palm oil to an increasing number of customers in Europe.”

The current estimated annual production capacity of RSPO-certified sustainable palm oil is 8.6 million metric tons, approximately 15 percent of global crude palm oil. Spread over 2.4 million hectares of certified area, about 46.8% of the world's current RSPO-certified sustainable palm oil production capacity comes from Indonesia, followed by 45.3% from Malaysia, and the remaining 7.9% from Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Brazil, Thailand, Cambodia, Colombia and Ivory Coast.