NEWS IN BRIEF INDONESIA: The government has lowered its top crude palm oil (CPO) export levy rate by US$80/tonne, – to be applied when palm oil prices reached above a US$1,000/tonne , AgriCensus reported on 20 June. Export duties would be US$50/tonne when palm oil prices reached a minimum of US$750/tonne. For every US$50/tonne increase in price, the duty would rise by US$50/tonne for palm oil and US$16/tonne for products – up to the ceiling rate of US$175 when CPO reached above US$1,000/ tonne, the report said. Indonesian CPO prices had decreased to US$1,045/ tonne in mid-June, an 18% fall since their peak in early May, Palm Oil Analytics said.
FSC cuts ties with Korean palm oil operator Korindo The Forest Stewardship Council (FCS) announced on 14 July that it was ending its association with Korean timber and palm oil operator Korindo. “Korindo was required to fulfil several conditions set by FSC to address inadequate past performance in their [Indonesia] palm oil business, and to determine that no further improper activities were taking place,” FCS said. However, FSC and Korindo were not able to agree on the procedure to independently verify progress. The NGO said its relationship had "become untenable" and Korindo's trademark licences with FSC would be terminated from October. The case began in 2017 when environmental campaign group Mighty Earth filed a complaint to FSC, alleging Korindo’s involvement in deforestation, human rights abuses and destruction of high conservation values in forests converted into oil palm plantations in Papua and North Maluku. FSC said its investigations confirmed that Korindo had converted forests to establish oil palm
plantations, damaging high conservation value forests; and that Korindo had not met its standards for free, prior and informed consent. In 2019, FSC set out six conditions for Korindo including a ban on land clearing and any activities in high conservation value areas. However, the disagreement on independent verification had led the organisation to cut its legal ties with Korindo. Korindo chief sustainability officer Kwangyul Peck said in a statement on 15 July that the company had been in the process of working towards unconditional association with FSC. "We are confident to reactivate the process as soon as possible, making this a temporary situation only.” Korindo’s website said the group had 20,662ha of palm oil concessions in Papua and 8,444ha in North Maluku, totalling just under 30,000ha, of which 9,149ha planted. The firm has operations in plantations (timber, palm oil and rubber); paper and forest products; construction and heavy industry; logistics; real estate; and financial services.
A number of lawsuits have been filed in the USA alleging that fish oil products do not contain fish oil, law platform JD Supra reported on 9 June. Filed in California federal courts, the lawsuits targeted well-known dietary supplement products, alleging that the transesterification process used to create fish oil supplements left the finished products without any of the omega-3 fatty acids DHA or EPA, JD Supra wrote. The plaintiffs also alleged that the resulting omega-3
Photo: Pixabay
US lawsuits target fish oil supplement producers
US lawsuits are alleging that fish oil supplements do not contain fish oil
molecules in the finished product were different to the
omega-3 molecules naturally found in fish oil.
“Once transesterified, fish oil is irrevocably transformed, such that it is no longer fish oil and therefore cannot be so named or labelled,” the lawsuits alleged. For this reason, the plaintiffs claimed that these products misled the public with false and deceptive labelling that was in violation of federal and state laws. The lawsuits were still in their early stages but the potential impact was substantial, with fish oil supplements representing a large consumer market, JD Supra said.
Indonesian company commits to forest remediation plan A palm oil plantation owned by PT Agrinusa Persada Mulia is planning to restore forest in Indonesia as part of a remediation plan, Eco Business reported on 15 June. KPN Plantation, known as Gama Plantation until 2019, said it would remediate 38,000ha of forest in Papua and West Kalimantan, provinces that had undergone mass deforestation between 2013 and 2018, according to the report. KPN’s chief operating officer, Hendri Saksti, was quoted as saying that the com4 OFI – JULY/AUGUST 2021
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pany’s plan “reaffirmed our responsibility and commitment to remedy past mistakes”. In KPN’s recovery plan, the company had committed to restore three times the area of forest it believed it was liable for clearing, Eco Business wrote. Remediation efforts would include peatland rewetting, reforestation, conservation and social forestry. In 2018, a Greenpeace investigation revealed that Gama, a group of plantation firms, had cleared 21,500ha of rainforest in Papua and West Kalimantan during the
previous five years, Eco Business wrote. A Greenpeace campaign targeted Singapore-listed Wilmar International, leading Wilmar to cut off Gama and several other palm oil suppliers in June 2018. Gama then declared a group-wide moratorium on new land development and, after consulting with Wilmar and environmental group Aidenvironment, consolidated the 63 companies that operated on 200,000ha of plantation area into a single group. Wilmar re-instated Gama as a supplier in 2019. www.ofimagazine.com
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