Palm oil firms ditch "no deforestation" pact in Indonesia

Golden Agri-Resources

02/07/2016 05:38

SINGAPORE, July 2 (Reuters) - Major palm oil producers and 
traders, including Wilmar  WLIL.SI  and Cargill  CARG.UL  
ditched a "no deforestation" private agreement in Indonesia, 
saying the government's recent efforts to strengthen its 
certification standards were sufficient. 
    Indonesia, the world's biggest producer and exporter of palm 
oil, moved in April to prohibit the use of new land to boost 
production.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N17M397 
    The country, home to the world's third-largest tropical 
forests, has been criticised by green activists and other 
Southeast Asian nations on forestry policy and for failing to 
stop the region's annual smoke "haze" problem from 
forest-burning. 
    The government's anti-monopoly agency said in April it would 
investigate suspected cartel practices among the signatories to 
the Indonesian Palm Oil Pledge, a landmark 2014 pledge by 
several private companies to cut deforestation. 
    Indonesia saw the pact as in direct competition with the 
government's own standards and too difficult for smallholders to 
comply with. Smallholders account for about 40 percent of its 
palm output. 
    "IPOP signatories have decided that recent groundbreaking 
policy developments in Indonesia have fulfilled the purpose of 
IPOP to help accelerate and promote this transformation toward 
sustainability and therefore its presence can be dissolved," the 
companies said in a statement.  
    Other signatories include Golden Agri-Resources  GAGR.SI , 
Indonesia's Asian Agri, Kadin and Astra Agro Lestari, and 
Singapore-based Musim Mas. 
 
 (Reporting by Marius Zaharia; Editing by Shri Navaratnam) 
 ((marius.zaharia@thomsonreuters.com; +65 6403 5657; Reuters 
Messaging: marius.zaharia.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: INDONESIA PALMOIL/