Competition CPO & soybean industry use environmental issues

JAKARTA: The competition between producers of crude palm oil and soybean oil into the core issues that protests continued intensively certain groups and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) based in the European Union.
`The core problem is they (EU) concerned products CPO (crude palm oil) will undermine Indonesia soybean market that had been produced in the EU,` said G. Sulistyanto Soeharman, Managing Director of Sinar Mas Group, yesterday.

Palm oil products that enter the national EU markets for 30% of the total national palm oil products. `Seeing the numbers significant enough, even though most of the palm oil products is still absorbed by the Asia Pacific markets, especially China and India,` he said.

Concerns the government and entrepreneurs in the EU is the question the problem of oil palm plantations in Indonesia, he said, just looking for a gap as if the management of the national oil palm plantations is not derived from sustainably managed and sustainable.

Sulistyanto predicts the demand of palm oil from Indonesia will increase, although appears to be a negative reaction of several NGOs and some organizations are pushing Indonesia's position in international forums.

According to him, certain organizational attitudes and foreign NGOs, especially those from the European Union and other countries who protested the management system of oil palm plantations in Indonesia does not have a clear argument.

`If necessary, we take them directly to the forest or oil palm plantations are managed sustainably, not just dialogue,` he said.

Facilitators meeting

Responding to various protests that digencarkan international organization Greenpeace environmentalists against business groups, led Sulistyanto environmentalists institutions that dialogue.

`I've asked the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) as a facilitator for meetings between the Sinar Mas group, and Greenpeace. Sinar Mas principled system of forest management and sustainable plantation is a step that could not negotiable.` Hikmat Soeriatanuwijaya, Media Campaigner Greenpeace Southeast Asia, said Greenpeace was not anti-palm oil industry and pulp and paper which is economically beneficial. The only purpose of the disclosure of this evidence is to stop forest destruction in Indonesia.

`Why Sinar Mas Group? Because of this huge group activities forest destruction on a large scale in Indonesia,` he said.

Today we sent an official letter to the management of the Sinar Mas Group in Singapore and Jakarta, and has received confirmation that the letter had been received. In a letter signed Bustar Maitar, forest campaign team leader of Greenpeace Southeast Asia, the organization said it would continue to urge the Sinar Mas to stop forest destruction and continue to urge companies not to buy the product for as long as the Sinar Mas forest destruction activities.

In a letter to Greenpeace insisted a change of attitude if the Sinar Mas Group finally decided to stop forest destruction. If the Sinar Mas Group has stopped doing the destruction of forests, of course the company will not have any more trouble to come back to buy products Sinar Mas.

Source : Bisnis Indonesia