In June, Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Peter O’Neill announced the cancellation of all illegal agricultural land leases. He also abolished future issuances of this kind of lease.
We’re preparing an upcoming product that analyzes sustainability and financial risk in the supply chains of Kuala Lumpur Kepong (KLK:MK), a Malaysian multinational company and one of the largest palm oil plantation companies in the world.
Deutsche Bank drops palm oil supplier Bumitama (BAL:SP): This week, Deutsche Bank announced that it had sold all of its shares in Indonesian palm oil supplier Bumitama (BAL:Singapore).
Chain Reaction Research has developed a briefing in anticipation of the Indonesian coal mining company Bumi Resources’ (BUMI:IJ) upcoming rights offering. Bumi Resources is a holding company for Bumi, Asia’s largest thermal coal exporter.
On 12 May 2014, Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM) announced that it will make its palm oil supply chain fully traceable. To do so, ADM will work with Wilmar, the world’s largest palm oil trader.
Big moves by international investors this week clearly demonstrate the potential risk of investing in contested land. HSBC Malaysia could be the first foreign bank to scale down operations in the Malaysian province of Sarawak.
In just the past two weeks, four major consumer-facing companies have committed to sourcing deforestation-free palm oil. Following in the footsteps of major palm oil traders like Wilmar and GAR, these consumer company commitments represent the proliferation of no-deforestation policies throughout the palm oil supply chain.
This week, fires in Indonesia reached levels that match last year’s haze crisis across Southeast Asia. Many of these fires are concentrated on peat soils, which are rich in carbon and especially harmful to human health and the environment when burned.
Last Friday, the palm oil industry crossed an important threshold: Golden Agri-Resources (GAR) announced a decision to source only palm oil produced without deforestation. This means that now, a majority of the world’s traded palm oil is covered by deforestation-free sourcing policies, heralding a clear shift in the market towards responsible commodity production.
There recently have been a number of breaking updates in the palm oil sector, which reflect rapidly changing market entry requirements on deforestation: