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RI palm oil producers unworried as China, India go sustainable
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Seeds of controversy: A worker weighs palm oil seeds at a plantation in Kutamakmur, Aceh, on May 12. (AFP/Azwar Ipank)
I
ndonesian palm oil producers are optimistic they can overcome the challenges presented by China and India’s transition toward sustainability, as experts stress the importance of having the country’s local sustainability standards recognized globally.
China and India are Indonesia’s main crude palm oil (CPO) export markets. China, through the 2020 Green Value Chain Policy Proposal and the 2022 Palm Oil Consumption Guidelines, and India, through the 2018 Sustainable Palm Oil Coalition for India (India-SPOC), are seeking to ensure that the palm oil they import adheres to higher sustainability standards.
Bukti Bagja, senior manager for smallholders and livelihood transformation at World Resources Institute (WRI) Indonesia, said the mostly early-stage policy proposals marked the beginning of a push for greener palm oil supply chains.
“These initiatives indicate that both markets are slowly trying to encourage sustainable practices in the palm oil sector,” he told The Jakarta Post.
Indonesian palm oil stakeholders, he said, could seize the opportunity to push for wider recognition of the Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) certification, starting with China, considering Jakarta’s strong trade relations with Beijing.
The ISPO is a government-issued compliance certification that has largely failed to gain world market recognition.
“The government needs to convince global buyers that the ISPO is in line with global standards,” said Andrian Bagus Santoso, an industry and regional analyst at state-owned Bank Mandiri, on Thursday.
