KUALA LUMPUR (May 10): Palm oil produced by smallholders under the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) will not be affected by the European Union Deforestation-free Regulation (EUDR), said EU ambassador to Malaysia Michalis Rokas.

The new regulation will not have an impact on the land project participants, as Felda had not cleared any forest to open new plantations since 1990, he said.

“Since your (smallholders’) plantations [under] Felda have had no deforestation since 1990, the rule does not apply. I want to make it clear the EUDR will only apply if the land is cleared from Jan 1, 2021,” he said during a palm oil dialogue session jointly organised on Wednesday (May 10) by the EU mission to Malaysia and Foreign Correspondents Club of Malaysia to address concerns over the regulation.

Rokas noted that the EUDR was introduced by the EU in November 2021 to limit deforestation caused by the consumption of agricultural commodities and products from around the world.

He dismissed the claim that the regulation would aim at protecting the EU's domestic oilseed market, which might not be able to compete with palm oil.

“The EUDR is purely an environmental law, as the EU wants to contribute to fighting climate change and preserving forests.

“It is a very fair regulation with respect to sustainable development goals, and the eight commodities listed were chosen through scientific studies.

“[For example,] scientists around the world found that cattle rearing contributed the most to deforestation,” he added.

As a note, the EUDR would require the exporting companies to produce a due diligence report with verifiable information that the regulated commodities were not grown on land deforested after 2020.

https://www.theedgemarkets.com/node/666423