Proposal for European palm oil council to be finalised

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Tan Sri Bernard Dompok

KUCHING: Malaysia and Indonesia will finalise the proposal to set up a European palm oil council (Epoc) by yearend to more effectively address negative publicity on palm oil in the European Union (EU).

A body to provide the industry a collective platform, Epoc will represent both countries in public debates on issues concerning palm oil.

Its establishment was supported by the Malaysian and Indonesian governments at the 6th Joint Committee Meeting on Bilateral Cooperation on Commodities.

The meeting, held at a hotel here, was led by Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok and Indonesia’s Agriculture Minister Dr Suswono Asyraf.

Dompok told a press conference after the meeting that Epoc was one of the efforts taken by both countries in tackling anti-palm oil campaigns in western countries.

“We have agreed in principal that we will set up a European palm oil council. The operation is likely to be done before end of the
year so that Indonesia and Malaysia will have a platform in Europe to go into the market and explain our position on this particular commodity,” he explained.

Another effort taken by both countries was the joint ministerial mission to western countries such as the coming joint mission to the United States from May 24 to 26, Dompok said.

He revealed that they would meet with the US Secretary of Agriculture, US Secretary of Energy, US Environmental Protection Agency, US Secretary of Commerce and US-Asean Business Council.

“This is a continuation of a similar mission to the EU in November 2010,” he said, adding that the mission was fruitful in terms of giving a better understanding of the oil palm industry to their European counterparts.

“When we were doing our joint mission (to EU), we met some members of parliament who in fact didn’t know what an oil palm tree looks like. I think we should really work together and talk to them as a team,” he said.

Dompok stressed that Malaysia and Indonesia – supplying about 90 per cent of the world’s palm oil – should strengthen their cooperation to have more say in the market.

“With the two countries controlling the production of palm oil (in the world) working together, I think the market will listen more, rather than we do it alone,” he pointed out.

On sustainable palm oil certification, Dompok said even though Malaysia had yet to have a standard scheme, the government was in consultation with the industry players.

He didn’t rule out the possibility that Malaysia would have her own certification scheme instead of applying the so-called international standard scheme – the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (Rspo).

Without giving details, he said some of the concerns advocated by Rspo had been developed beyond the original objective.

“Both Malaysia and Indonesia are very alarmed on this development and therefore there is no reason our countries should not look at the other option of using our own certification scheme,” he reasoned.

Indonesia has implemented the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (Ispo) certification since April 1 this year.

Suswono explained that Ispo is a certification system aimed to increase competitiveness of Indonesia palm oil in the world market through the implementation of criteria related to the international criteria.

“People must be aware that Rspo is yet to be fully accepted by all EU countries, for instance Spain, because all countries have their own parameters.

“What we have done in Spain, France, Italy and other countries was to have discussion or seminars (on oil palm industry) where representatives from NGOs are also present.

“The outcome is positive, seeing that the negative perspective has been reduced. This is what we will continue doing,” he said.

If there is any dispute in terms of criteria between Ispo and Rspo, it will be resolved through the scientific approach, he added.

Apart from that, the meeting also agreed to monitor the development of the Food Standards Amendment (Truth in Labelling – Palm Oil) Bill 2009 approved by the Australian government.

It requires the labelling of palm oil if present in food products.

Dompok said both countries view the move as discriminatory since other vegetable oils do not have to be labelled as sustainable.

He said they were worried such a move might negate the development of the palm oil industry in both countries, where it was an important pillar of the agricultural sector.

“We encourage palm oil related associations from both countries to submit their concerns to the Community Affairs Legislation Committee.

“The ministers also agreed to express their concerns to their Australian counterpart, taking into account the long-term impact of this legislation on market access to palm oil products,” he said.

Besides cooperation in cocoa and pepper, both countries have agreed to expand their cooperation to include jatropha.