FGV sees more than 30 mills to be RSPO-certified by year-end

KUALA LUMPUR: Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV), which has received its Roundtable Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) Principles and Criteria (P&C) certification for its eight palm oil mill complexes at the end of 2017, is expecting more than 30 mill complexes to be certified by the end of this year.

"In 2018, we aim to certify another eight mill complexes by March and more than 30 mill complexes will have been audited by RSPO and Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) by end of December," said FGV group president and CEO Datuk Zakaria Arshad in a media statement.

The group is expected to certify its 70 mill complexes to RSPO and The Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) by the end of 2021.

Recall that FGV had in May 2016 withdrawn its RSPO P&C certificates of its mill complexes, acknowledging that there were labour and social issues along its supply chain that needed to be addressed.

According to the group, the eight mill complexes that have so far been certified are expected to produce over 200,000 tonnes of Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) and almost 60,000 tonnes of Certified Sustainable Palm Kernel Oil (CSPK).

Aside from capitalising on the premium offered, FGV will be able to access markets in the European Union and North America, as well as customers that demand certified palm oil products.

"This is indeed a good start to the year, thanks to the committed workforce in FGV who have embraced our transformative sustainability programme that we embarked on in May 2016," said Zakaria.

He added that one of FGV's key strategies has been the introduction of the group's sustainability policy, which applies throughout its operations, subsidiaries and contractors to address the gaps and create a more inclusive supply chain.

At 12.30pm, FGV's share price gained 10 sen or 5.6% to RM1.90, with some 27.78 million shares changing hands.