PETALING JAYA: Affected local planters, whose palm oil products are banned by the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on forced labour allegations, must speed up the submission of their independent evaluation reports to the relevant US authorities.

       According to industry consultant M R Chandran, a potential delay in publishing the independent reports could cause uneasiness among US buyers and users, thus leading to a boycott or suspension on the origin palm oil products.

       “In fact, such delays have already led to a knee-jerk reaction by some big names such as Cargill Inc, Hershey Co, General Mills Inc and the latest being Italian confectionery giant Ferrero to boycott the purchase of palm oil products from the affected Malaysian planters,” he told StarBiz recently.

       So far, Sime Darby Plantation Bhd (SDP) and FGV Holdings Bhd have been slapped with a Withhold Release Order (WRO) by the US CBP, alleging that there was a presence of the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) forced labour indicators in these planters’ production process.

       Since then, SDP has appointed ethical trade consultancy Impactt Limited to conduct a comprehensive third-party evaluation of the labour practices across its domestic operations, mapped against the ILO’s 11 indicators of forced labour.

       FGV has also appointed an independent auditing firm, Elevate Ltd, to conduct an assessment of its operations against the ILO indicators.

       On the other hand, Chandran admits that the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and movement restrictions could have impeded the early completion of the independent assessment/evaluation reports by these affected planters.

       Last Friday, Reuters reported that Ferrero said it will stop buying palm oil from SDP over forced labour allegations.

       Ferrero had requested that starting April 6, all its direct suppliers stop supplying palm oil and palm kernel oil sourced indirectly from SDP until further notice.

       SDP then came up with a statement on the same day late evening stating that “the Italian confectionery firm Ferrero is not its customer and has not been for a while.”

       Neither are General Mills and The Hershey Company, which were also mentioned in the Reuters news report published earlier, Bernama quoted SDP as saying in the same statement.

       However, SDP confirmed that its direct customer Cargill had decided to suspend all new sourcing of palm oil and derivative products from it, effective Feb 25, 2022.

       “The supply of bulk products to Cargill in India has now been taken up by other customers.

       “Nevertheless, SDP values all our customers and we are in discussions with Cargill on its decision,” it said.

       SDP also said it had committed to sustainable development and responsible business practices about 15 years ago.

       “We take these commitments very seriously and have maintained a leadership position in the industry for well over a decade.

       “Having said that, over the last several months, SDP has moved even further ahead, particularly in the area of labour rights.

       “With all the measures that we have revised or instituted, some of which were published in our press release dated Feb 15, 2022, all stakeholders who are committed to sustainability and labour rights can be assured of SDP’s commitment and leadership in the industry,” it said.

       SDP also said it is in regular communication with all its key stakeholders, particularly customers who have their own commitments.

       “Through these engagements, we believe they would have an in-depth understanding and a better appreciation of our commitment to safeguard the safety and well-being of workers,” it said.

       Meanwhile, Chandran noted that “Ferrero’s reaction is most regrettable. One should ask what is its ultimate objective in announcing publicly its decision to stop buying from SDP.”

       He pointed out that Ferrero was one of the major users of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)-certified palm derivatives.

       “Thus, the Italian confectionery group would have had many avenues to explore before taking this extreme action to boycott SDP products,” he noted.

       Chandran added that Ferrero seemed to have overlooked the fact that SDP is the world’s largest producer of certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO).

       According to its website, SDP produces about 2.097 million tonnes of CSPO annually.