JAKARTA: Global crude palm oil customers will only refer to international palm oil plantation standard or widely known as roundtable on sustainable palm oil.Government of Indonesia as a matter of fact has set sustainable palm oil production standard or Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) that is obligatory for all domestic CPO producers.Global CPO customers shall prefer to employ sustainable palm oil plantation standard that are relatively comprehensive, environmentally friendly and binding, said Unilever Chief Executive Officer Paul Polman.In the world, there will only be one standard and for the time being the standard is RSPO (roundtable on sustainable palm oil), he said during World Economic Forum in Jakarta yesterday.RSPO is a non-profit organization that unites stakeholders of seven sectors in palm oil industry, including palm oil producer, palm oil processor or trader, consumer goods producer, retailer, bank and investors, environment and social NGO as well as NGO focusing on development that endorse efforts to develop and employ global standard for palm oil industry.Polman added that it is impossible to apply various kinds of standard for CPO in global market. The applicable standard is the one that being employed or the most intact standard compared to the other.Greenpeace campaigner for South East Asia region Bustar Maitar applauds governments decision to issue Indonesia sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO). Yet, we have to be fully aware that global palm oil market has its own international standard, he said.Adding to that, he perceived that if Indonesia still has strong orientation on export, then the archipelago country must pay serious attention to such global standard. By doing this, Indonesia CPO export will be globally accepted.Bustar explained that there are no other significant changes between RSPO and ISPO. Yet, he perceives ISPO as less solid compared to RSPO since many chapters contained in ISPO only adopts RSPO.Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sinar Mas, Franky Oesman Widjaja said that at the moment there are two standards widely recognized by CPO industry, RSPO and ISPO. I believe RSPO and ISPO will complement one another. Both standards regulate ways to plant palm oil, he said.Rather obligatoryAccording to Franky, governments decision to issue mandatory ISPO shall bind palm oil producers to hold favorable plantation.Meanwhile, Head of Indonesia Palm Oil Commission Rosediana Suharto said that based on a research, in 2010 Indonesias CPO export declined as it reached only 9.44 million ton compared to 2009 at 9.56 million ton.Indonesias export destination in 2010 mostly was India (47%), Malaysia (14%) while Netherlands import from Indonesia declined by 10%.Secretariat General of Indonesia Palm Oil Entrepreneur Association (Gapki) Joko Supriyono said that for the time being RSPO serving as voluntary industrial standard as it is proposed for particular consumer and market needs.RSPO is a standard being made by European Union consumers that is rather voluntary while ISPO is obligatory for Indonesia, meaning it has firm sanction for any industrial players violating environmental standard or production, said Joko. (t02/msw)

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