New palm oil certification proposed for Malaysia

It has been reported Malaysia, the world’s second largest palm oil producer, is to launch its own certification standard for next year.

The aim of this move is to differentiate homemade palm oil to that produced overseas and to offer a less stringent alternative to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil certification (RSPO).

‘The RSPO is more of a burden to the industry. It has certain conditions that are too stringent, it is very costly, and they keep changing their goals. The premium that we get is also minimum,’ plantation industries and commodities minister Datuk Embas was quoted as saying. ‘To move forward in the palm oil industry, we decided to have our own Malaysian standard.’

It is believed the programme will start out as a voluntary initiative but could become compulsory over time.