Sustainability: new ball game for palm oil firms

[SINGAPORE] The palm oil industry has reached a tipping point.

In the last five months, two palm oil giants who together trade about half the global supply - Wilmar International and Golden Agri Resources - have declared that their sustainability policies would apply not just to their own plantations, but also to those of their suppliers.

About half of all fresh fruit bunches bought by Wilmar come from third parties, while the amount for upstream palm oil player Golden Agri is much lower, at 7 per cent.

The two palm oil groups' resolve to set a new sustainability standard in the industry has prompted others like First Resources to look into doing the same.

"Although our third-party purchases are small, we will be reviewing our procurement policies with the aim of incorporating our sustainability values into our supply ch…