Korindo Group, the private Indonesian palm oil, rubber and timber company, was suspended by multiple NDPE traders between 2016 and 2018 after evidence of deforestation and illegal burning on their concessions. Faced with restricted NDPE market access, the company is now looking at business opportunities in the regional biofuel market. Korindo is owned by the …
The family behind the Bewani Oil Palm Plantation (BOPPL), one of the largest deforesters in Southeast Asia, has divested from the plantation. This move raises fears of continued forest loss and the undermining of palm oil traders’ efforts to eliminate deforestation-linked palm oil throughout supply chains. BOPPL is a 139,909-hectare (ha) plantation in Papua New …
The withdrawal of Indofood from the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and the subsequent suspensions of its subsidiaries signal a possible expanding gap between the NDPE market and the leakage market. On February 28, 2019, the RSPO suspended palm oil producer PT Salim Ivomas Pratama Tbk (SIMP), a subsidiary of Indofood’s palm oil unit …
A group of U.S. Senators recently sent letters on February 4, 2019 to investors and asset managers urging them to take into account deforestation risks in their portfolios. The Senators, led by Brian Schatz, a Democrat from Hawaii, asked the financial actors to commit to pressuring companies in agricultural supply chains that do not adequately address …
On January 22, 2019, Frontpage Africa reported that Sime Darby put its Liberian plantation up for sale. According to the news story, Sime Darby decided on this path as the Liberian government did not meet its obligations. The decision likely relates to the stipulation in Sime Darby’s 2009 concession agreement that states the 220,000 ha …
COFCO, a major Chinese company active in agricultural markets, released a statement in late January at the World Economic Form (WEF) in support of shoring up “sustainable” practices and curbing deforestation in commodity supply chains. COFCO’s CEO, Jun Lyu, warned industry that failure to curb climate change could lead to poor crop production and limit …
Ten growers in Malaysia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea were responsible for almost 35,000 hectares (ha) of deforestation in 2018, according to analysis by Chain Reaction Research (CRR). This total represents around 47 percent of the 74,000 ha of deforestation that can be attributed to palm oil companies in 2018 in Malaysia, Indonesia (Kalimantan, Sumatra, …
Faced with investor pressure, food service provider Aramark announced January 23, 2019 that it plans to put into effect a no-deforestation commitment by 2025. As a result, Green Century Capital Management withdrew its shareholder resolution it had filed with Aramark. The company, headquartered in Philadelphia, says it will implement a No Deforestation, No Peat, No …
AAK is a vegetable oils producer, with its headquarters in Malmö, Sweden. The company has 20 production facilities worldwide, sales offices in more than 25 countries and a total workforce of 3,500 employees. In 2017, its revenue was equivalent to USD 3.2 billion in 2017. Within the world’s palm oil supply chain, AAK is positioned …
Since the palm oil sector is capital intensive and needs long-term financing, palm oil companies depend on bank loans. By investing in banks that provide loans to the palm oil industry, investors may indirectly face deforestation-related risks. These risks are magnified when a bank’s exposure to palm oil companies with sustainability risks is relatively high …
