• Bloomberg quoted the RSPO’s Indonesian director of operations as saying that about 2.2mil hectares of oil palm plantations in Indonesia have received the RSPO certification as of August 2020. Globally, around 4.4mil hectares of oil palm plantations were RSPO- certified as of August 2020. Indonesia’s production of RSPO-certified CPO amounted to an estimated 9.2mil tonnes from January to August 2020 compared with 8.5mil tonnes in 2019. Globally, RSPO-certified CPO amounted to 16.4mil tonnes from January to August 2020.
   
• Reuters reported that Darrell Lea’s ban on green palm oil has disappointed the palm oil industry. Darrell Lea, which is an Australian chocolate maker, has replaced palm oil as an ingredient across its entire product range in response to consumer demand. Darrell Lea cited deforestation and risks to endangered animals as reasons for the replacement of palm oil. Darrell Lea will now use sunflower oil in its products instead. Darrell Lea’s actions came after Kraft Heinz launched a palm oil-free hazelnut spread in Canada early this year and British supermarket chain, Iceland removed palm oil from its own brand food at the end of 2018.

• The Guardian, UK cited workers’ rights experts as saying that the proposal by Malaysia’s plantation companies to use prisoners in the estates may constitute “institutionalised forced labour”. Liva Sreedharan, a specialist in migrant and labour rights, said that many of the estate workers, whom she has interviewed, were victims of forced labour. The workers described abuses such as passport confiscation, failure to provide work contracts, physical threats and abuse by plantation managers and failure to pay the minimum wage.

• Platts quoted the USDA as saying that persistent dry weather in the US Midwest is expected to support soybean harvesting in 2020E/2021F. US soybean harvest usually starts in early September but rains can delay the harvest. The USDA added that in the Corn Belt, cool and dry weather favour corn and soybean maturation and early-season harvesting. Dry weather is expected to prevail in the coming weeks as well, which signal swift soybean harvesting in the core regions of the Midwest.

• Gulf News reported that from 1 October 2020 onwards, prices of sweetened drinks will increase in Oman as the government will be imposing a 50% excise duty. Last June, the Oman Tax Authority issued a list of taxable products including juices, fruit drinks, energy or sports drinks, canned tea and coffee products. Oman is the third Gulf country to introduce excise duty on sweetened beverages after Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Source: AmInvest Research - 28 Sept 2020