CERTIFIED sustainable palm oil (CSPO) shipments are expected to increase
to 2.5 million tonnes by the end of the year.
“This should be
able to match the European Union demand for both food and biofuel
consumption,” said Dr Vengeta Rao, secretary general of the Roundtable
for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).
He was speaking at the
International Palm Oil Council in Kota Kinabalu yesterday.
Based on audit reports of growers and palm oil mills, CSPO shipments
will total 2 million tonnes by June, Rao said.
The single largest crop certification in the world will also be
undertaken by an independent supply chain certification body.
“We’re contracting it to take over the certification process from RSPO.
It will be a significant shift.”
RSPO will be undertaking a
pilot study with Accreditation Services International for one and a half
years.
He also said that that more countries have shown
interest in the 450-member RSPO with the addition of the Solomon
Islands, Colombia,Thailand and Ghana.
Despite claims that the
multi-stakeholder grouping was losing support, the RSPO has seen 12 new
members a month in recent times compared with five a month in 2008.
Malaysian smallholders will also jump on the bandwagon as Felda is
undergoing the auditing process.
Source : Business Times
