By taking the first step, we will supply 30 tons of sustainable CPO to Carrefour IndonesiaJakarta (ANTARA News) - The European Union is urged to increase its imports of certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO) since the volume of this imported commodity is still quite small even as the CSPO production continues to increase, a business executive said.
"The global purchase of SPO is only about 50 percent of the present production with the European Union as the biggest importer," said Gan Liang Tiong, the head of the Sustainability Affairs of Musim Mas Group here on Tuesday.
The European Union is one of the few regions of the world that has encouraged producers in Indonesia, Malaysia and other countries to produce sustainable CPO through the Roundtable Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) which has five buyer, producer and non-governmental organization members.
Gan said that the total world CPO production with sustainability certificates from the RSPO had reached six million tons, of which three million tons came from Indonesia.
He expressed his hope that Europe and other countries would increase their commitment to encourage the use of CSPO by increasing their imports.
But, Gan acknowledged that the economic crisis that hit a number of European countries might reduce their imports of CSPO.
Yet, as one of the big producers of CSPO in Indonesia, the Musim Mas Group with a production capacity of 477 thousand tons hoped that the European countries, which had bases in many other countries, would boost their imports of SCPO.
"We hail the positive step by Carrefour Indonesia to begin buying CSPO for its Ecoplanet cooking. This will encourage demand for sustainable CPO production across the world," Gan added.
He said that the biggest French retailer business chain, Carrefour, had made a commitment to purchase CSPO and export it to a number of countries such as India, China, Taiwan and Malaysia.
"By taking the first step, we will supply 30 tons of sustainable CPO to Carrefour Indonesia," Gan said.
The CPO-based cooking oil from plantations and factories has been certified by RSPO and was launched at the Carrefour, Lebak Bulus in East Jakarta on Monday.
Production Director of Musim Mas Group Alan Southworth added that besides exporting CSPO to various countries, particularly in Europe, his company also exported sustainable CPO-by products like fatty alcohol, oleo-chemical, biodiesel, and downstream products like soap, margarine and candle.
He said that armed with certificates from the RSPO and ISPO, Musim Mas Group now expects to become one of the biggest sustainable CPO producers in Indonesia with a production capacity of 600 thousand tons per annum.
At present, Indonesia is the world`s biggest CPO producer country with an annual production reaching 22 million tons, of which only five million tons are consumed at home.
(A014/INE/B003)
Editor: Suryanto
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