Indonesia to probe palm producers' environmental pledge -competition watchdog (updated)

Golden Agri-Resources

14/04/2016 12:21

(Adds comment from IPOP legal team) 
    By Bernadette Christina Munthe 
    JAKARTA, April 14 (Reuters) - Indonesia will investigate 
palm oil companies that are signatories to the Indonesian Palm 
Oil Pledge (IPOP) for potential anti-competitive practices, the 
country's anti-monopoly agency (KPPU) said. 
    "The IPOP agreement has the potential to become the means of 
a cartel that will give rise to monopoly practices and or 
unhealthy business competition," KPPU spokesman Dendy Sutrisno 
said in a statement issued late on Wednesday. "Because of this, 
the KPPU states that the IPOP agreement cannot be implemented." 
    IPOP is an agreement aimed at curbing deforestation. Its six 
members are are Wilmar International Ltd  WLIL.SI , Cargill Inc 
 CARG.UL , Musim Mas, Astra Agro Lestari  AALI.JK , Asian Agri 
and Golden Agri-Resources  GAGR.SI . 
    Indonesia wants big palm oil companies to row back on the 
historic pledges made at a climate change summit in 2014, 
arguing that they are hurting smallholders who cannot afford to 
adopt sustainable forestry practices.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N11L3HZ 
    Indonesia is the world's biggest producer of the edible oil. 
    Ibrahim Senen, who heads the IPOP legal team, said the 
investigation was not expected to disrupt implementation of the 
growers' pledge. "No regulations have been breached," he said. 
    Asian Agri and Golden Agri Resources declined to comment on 
the matter. A spokesman for Astra Agro could not be reached for 
comment. Wilmar did not respond to an emailed request for 
comment. 
 
 (Additional reporting by Aradhana Aravindan in SINGAPORE; 
Writing by Fergus Jensen; Editing by Ed Davies and Jane 
Merriman) 
 ((fergus.jensen@thomsonreuters.com; +62 21 2992 7604; Reuters 
Messaging: fergus.jensen.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: INDONESIA PALMOIL/PROBE