FGV and Felda withdraw RSPO certs of 58 mills

Orang asli villager Razali bin Abdul Fattah, 62, harvesting oil palm fresh fruit bunches in Kampung Chenderong Kelubi in Kampung Gajah, Perak.

KUALA LUMPUR: Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) and its listed 33.7% associate firm Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV) have voluntarily withdrawn the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) Principles & Criteria (P&C) certificates of 58 mills located throughout Malaysia effective May 3.

FGV told Bursa Malaysia that the Felda group, however, remained a member of the RSPO scheme and continued its commitment to RSPO-P&C.

“Felda Group is currently addressing all sustainability issues along the supply chain. This exercise allows a more inclusive certification between commercially managed plantations by FGV and Felda smallholders,” it said.

FGV’s RSPO P&C certification is awarded to its mills and its supply base or the plantations supplying fresh fruit bunches to the mills.

FGV said the exercise did not affect Felda group’s RSPO Supply Chain Certification System (SCCS) certificate of its kernel crushing plants and downstream refineries.

RSPO-P&C a generic standard that provides global definition for the production of sustainable palm oil.

The RSPO scheme, which is the main industry standard for sustainable palm oil, outlines principles and critera that are decided and reviewed every five years by a committee/taskforce comprised of RSPO members. These are requirements that palm oil growers and millers must fufill in order to qualify as producers of certified sustainable palm oil.

Meanwhile, in a media statement, FGV said under the recertification time-bound plan, it would progressively recertify its mills within three-years.

“The smallholders will immensely benefit from the best sustainable plantation practices programme. Being part of Felda Group, FGV will be relentless in paving the way for the smallholders to come together on this sustainability journey as FGV’s supply base includes 102,100 smallholders’ plantations under the Felda Settlers Scheme,” group president and chief executive officer Datuk Zakaria Arshad said.

“Based on the recent developments in the sustainability arena, we foresee some potential risks in our supply chain. Therefore we intend to make some structural changes in our RSPO certification approach and also review certain policies.”

FGV shares gained 1 sen to close at RM1.46 on Tuesday, with 4.06 million shares traded.