PIPOC2009-PREMIUM

MARKET NEEDS TO RECOGNISE SUSTAINABLE PALM OIL, SAYS DOMPOK


KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 9 (Bernama) -- The premium for certified palm oil should
be at US$50 per tonne compared to US$8 dollar per tonne currently in order
to support the sustainable palm oil industry due to the costly certification
process.
In stating this, Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri
Bernard Dompok said some of Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) members
who are non-producers were not fully supportive of the high premium certified
sustainable palm oil.
"At the moment there's no premium paid by the market, so the market needs to
recognise the effort of plantations companies," Dompok told reporters after
officiating the International Palm Oil Congress (PIPOC) 2009 here today.
Currently, a total planted area of 157,000 hectares in the country are
producing more than one million tonnes of palm oil which have been certified by
the RSPO.
"But the takers in the markets are not there, and I am very sad when the
plantation companies tried their best to produce it but this is not responded by
the market," Dompok said.
Malaysia and Indonesia have done very well to support the sustainable palm
oil production, according to him.
In Malaysia, close to 40 per cent of the planted areas are managed by
smallholders and as such, outreach efforts needed to be made to bring on board
this particular segment of the industry, he said.
The Malaysian oil palm industry has been actively involved in the challenge
to produce palm oil under the RSPO ambit, Dompok said.
In addition to ensuring sustainable production, the industry has also
voluntarily adopted the Code of Practices (COPs) drawn up by the Malaysian Palm
Oil Board (MPOB), he said.
The code covers the entire supply chain of oil palm and palm oil,
incorporating elements of sustainability and food safety to ensure the
production of sustainable and environmentally friendly palm oil for the global
community.
"The adoption and implementation of COPs in the palm oil supply chain is
pertinent and forms part of the industry strategy to comply with food safety and
quality requirements of importing countries," the minister said.
On another development, Dompok said the RM100 million oil palm research
facility embarked by the MPOB and plantation companies had shown encouraging
results in palm oil production.
The MPOB research has successfully generated over 400 sequences representing
90 per cent of the functional genes in oil palm, he said.
The centre was set up to help boost the oil palm industry's productivity
through a better understanding of the plant's genetic code.
In a move to acquire the latest techniques in sequencing complete oil palm
genome using new generation sequencers, the MPOB is now collaborating with South
Korea's Macrogen and US-based Orion Genomics. -- BERNAMA
WNA LC