Wilmar assures S'wak it will continue to buy crude palm oil

Oil palm fruit

KUCHING: A senior state minister from Sarawak disclosed that Wilmar International Ltd, which kicked up a storm three weeks ago with its new outsourcing policy, has given the assurance that it would continue to procure crude palm oil (CPO) from planters in the state even though the plantations were on peat land.

Sarawak Land Development Minister Tan Sri Dr James Masing said Wilmar chairman and chief executive officer Kuok Khoon Hong wrote to him on Feb 14 stating that Wilmar’s policy would not affect the company’s purchase of CPO from corporations which had previously developed large tracts of peat land.