KUALA LUMPUR: MSM Malaysia Holdings Bhd is collaborating with Wilmar Sugar Pte Ltd to establish a sustainable sugar supply chain.

       In a joint statement, the parties said the initiative demonstrates their commitment to protect the environment, labour and communities while promoting progress in operational efficiencies and best practices.

       Wilmar Sugar's parent company, Wilmar International Ltd, had in September last year launched its No Deforestation, No People Exploitation (NDPE) sugar policy.

       According to the statement, MSM and Wilmar Sugar will embark on joint efforts to pilot an approach to enable sustainable raw sugar sourcing within their joint supply chain by focusing on traceability reporting of sugar supplies and monitoring of sustainability performance based on the NDPE Sugar Policy.

       “We are moving rapidly in ensuring that we embody sustainability in our operation and business. Therefore, it is important to ensure sustainability starts with the supply chain ecosystem.

       "MSM targets to source sustainable raw sugar for local market production to begin with. This collaboration with Wilmar Sugar takes us one step further in enhancing MSM’s ESG commitment and presence to wider markets globally as a sustainable refiner of premium sugar and will further strengthen our position as a top 8 integrated sugar refiner in the world,” said MSM Group CEO Syed Feizal Syed Mohammad.

       He added that the programme will enable MSM to improve its sustainable values and manifest its support towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12, Responsible Consumption and Production - Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns, one of the SDGs by the United Nations.