• In the Straits Times of Singapore, Wilmar International has defended its environmental record against accusations by Greenpeace that Wilmar’s five-year-old pledge to end deforestation across its supplier network has been a failure. There is a growing frustration among environmental organisations that big plantation companies are announcing big sustainability goals in order to hold on to brands like Nestle and Unilever only to hide misdeeds among their supplier networks.

• Wilmar said that it has distanced itself from shady suppliers and is serious about securing sustainable sources of palm oil. In total, Wilmar has suspended purchases of palm oil from 16 supplier groups found to be clearing natural forests and peatland. Wilmar has identified 50 out of its total supply network of 117 companies with “varying issues of deforestation”.

• Wilmar said that the solution is more complicated than simply cutting off suppliers. Once suspended, the producer has an incentive to sell to less squeamish customers in markets like China. This leakage accounts for 30% of capacity in palm oil mills in Malaysia and Indonesia.

• Asia Times reported that environmentalists have hailed the recent three-year moratorium on new licences for oil palm plantations although they feel that the ruling did not go far enough. The Indonesian Forum for the Environment welcomed the moratorium but suggested that the president should have signed it earlier. Also, the organisation said that the moratorium should stay in place for 25 years because environmental recovery takes a long time. In addition, when the President first mentioned about the moratorium, he also said a similar moratorium would be imposed on new coal mines. But this has not been implemented yet.

• Bloomberg reported that Pertamina faces vessel shortage to supply biodiesel to east Indonesia. A company official said that Pertamina has supplied biodiesel to 69 out of 112 terminals. The 43 terminals, which have not received biodiesel supply, are located in Sulawesi, Maluku, Nusa Tenggara and Irian Jaya (Papua). To recap, Indonesia has allocated 940,407 kiloliters of biodiesel to producers for the period of September to December 2018.

• Bloomberg cited an industry expert in China as saying that the country will not be able to source enough soybean alternatives if it does not buy between October 2018 and February 2019. Alternatives include sunflower meal from the Black Sea region. China may still need to import between six and nine million tonnes of soybeans from the USA to cover the deficit. The industry expert added that Brazil can only supply a maximum of 13mil tonnes of soybeans to China during the October 2018 to February 2019 period.

• South China Morning Post reported that China has reached into the US soybean heartland by using an advertising supplement in Iowa’s largest newspaper to highlight the impact of the trade war on the USA’s soybean farmers. The four-page section in Des Moines Register featured articles such as one outlining how the trade dispute is forcing Chinese importers to turn to South America for soybean supplies.

Source: AmInvest Research - 1 Oct 2018