M'sian Palm Oil Produced From MSPO Certified Areas, Says Wan Junaidi

By Massita Ahmad SINGAPORE, April 6 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's palm oil is produced from the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certified areas, said Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar. He said the country was also on its way to have a benchmark for its oil palm planted areas in order not to be blanketly banned by any country for the output. "That is where we are heading through the MSPO certification scheme. The certification will tell that all palm oil from Malaysia is from the certified areas," he told Bernama on the sidelines of the 4th Singapore Dialogues for Sustainable World Resources 2017 here. Wan Junaidi said the certification "simply means the palm oil must be from legally established oil palm areas and not from the deforestration without consent or illegal doing. "It must also be environmentally compliant with the environmental body's guidelines," he said. The Minister was asked to comment on the European Parliament which has adopted a resolution that only environmentally sustainable palm oil can be imported into the European Union (EU) after 2020. The EU resolution called for a single certified sustainable palm oil scheme for Europe-bound palm oil exports to make sure that the oil was produced using environmentally sustainable methods and prevented deforestation. The resolution said the current certification scheme was flawed, did not meet internationally accepted standards on sustainability and that the EU was therefore phasing out palm oil from its biofuel programme. Earlier, in his keynote address, Wan Junaidi said that the formulation of MSPO was not only based on Malaysian Standard (MS2530:2013) but it met the requirement of certified sustainable palm oil by certain developed country markets. "It certifies oil palm management and supply chains for oil palm plantations, independent and organised smallholdings and palm oil processing facilities," he said. Wan Junaidi said the MSPO was developed in consultation with stakeholders in the oil palm industry, including government agencies and palm oil associations, taking into account domestic laws and regulations related to sustainability criteria. The Minister said currently, over 221,548 hectares of oil palm planted areas in Malaysia, including smallholdings, have been certified. "Global non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have always put Malaysia in the spotlight on the issue of deforestration for the establishment of oil palm plantations," he said. He noted that being one of the biggest producers and exporters of palm oil and palm products, Malaysia had an important role to play in fulfilling the growing global need for sustainably produced oils and fats. Besides MSPO certification, Wan Junaidi said Malaysia had invested in research and development (R&D) to enhance agricultural yields, thereby limiting the expansion of planted areas. Malaysia has made the MSPO certification scheme, which was implemented since 2015, mandatory by December 2019, to ensure effective implementation, said the Minister. Malaysia's palm oil industry started off the year on a positive note with exports increasing 41.9 per cent at RM12.9 billion in the first two months of this year compared to the same period last year. -- BERNAMA