FGV shares drop after RSPO suspends certification

FGV Holdings' cooking oil on display at a supermarket.

KUALA LUMPUR: Shares of FGV Holdings Bhd fell to a low of RM1.47 on Wednesday after its sustainability certification was suspended.

At midday, it was down four sen to RM1.49.

The FBM KLCI was down 4.01 points or 0.25% to 1,576.59. Turnover was 1.44 billion shares valued at RM642.71mil. There were 268 gainers, 422 losers and 385 counters unchanged.

Crude palm oil for third month delivery fell RM12 to RM2,993 per tonne.

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RPSO) had on Tuesday stated its complaints panel had suspended the Principles and Criteria (P&C) certification processes for all uncertified units of FGV Holdings and reimposed its suspension on FGV Holding’s Kilang Sawit Serting for non-compliance of the Complaints Panel Decision dated Nov 28,2018.

The Complaints Panel, an independent body made up of eminent professionals from industry and civil society, has reviewed the audit reports and found the results to be unsatisfactory.

As directed by the Complaints Panel, the RSPO Secretariat has instructed the certification bodies to re-suspend FGV Holding’s Principles & Criteria certificate for Kilang Sawit Serting and its supply bases, pursuant to Section 4.12.6 of the RSPO Certifications Systems for Principles & Criteria (June 2017).

In addition, all work on achieving certification at FGV’s uncertified management units is suspended. The Decision Letter, dated 13 January 2020, which details the suspension and all related sanctions can be accessed here.

RSPO interim CEO Bakhtiar Talhah said: “All members are accountable to the commitments they have made, and the Principles and Criteria of our organisation. We rely on our Complaints Panel to enforce these rules in order to ensure the credibility of the RSPO.

“It is the duty of all members to ensure that human and labour rights are protected and all Complaints Panel directives must be complied with and implemented within the given timeline. These are matters of the utmost importance to me and to our membership, and we must remain vigilant so that these issues are eradicated from the industry.”

RSPO said the Secretariat’s Investigation and Monitoring Unit (IMU) will continue to oversee and review quarterly reports submitted by FGV Holdings.

It added that lifting of the suspension and sanctions is conditional upon FGV Holding’s satisfactory implementation of the Complaints Panel decision, verified by audits conducted by Certification Bodies in the period of Jan 13. 2020 and July 31,2020.

In the event of further non-compliance, the Complaints Panel may take additional necessary actions against FGV Holdings as stipulated in Section 12.9 of the Complaints and Appeals Procedure.

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