TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - As major palm oil producers, Indonesia and Malaysia will send delegations to meet and negotiate with European Union officials next month, aiming to prevent the implementation of the European Parliament's resolution on palm oil.
"We will do whatever we can to convince the European Parliament and European countries not to implement it. We don't want to think of the middle ground just yet, we will negotiate in full force," Indonesian Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution told journalists in Jakarta on Wednesday, April 12, 2017.
The European Parliament on Friday, April 7, 2017, issued a resolution on palm oil to reduce the use of crude palm oil methyl ester (CPOME) in biofuel by 2020. In addition, the European Parliament also set minimum requirements for all CPO-based products. One of the requirements is to produce those products in an environmentally sustainable way.
The resolution also aims at curbing certifications for Indonesian palm oil products. As many as 640 members of the European Parliament expressed their agreement on the resolution, while 18 others expressed otherwise.
"The joint mission will mainly convey the perspective of palm oil producers, especially to the European Parliament, that what is being said about palm oil is not true," Darmin added.
Malaysian Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Mah Siew Keong said that the European Resolution was unfair and could harm the livelihood of many small farmers in Malaysia.
Darmin argued that palm oil is a highly productive plant that uses less land than rival vegetable oil, such as soy oil.
Indonesia and Malaysia are the world's top producers of palm oil, accounting for around 85 percent of global output, while EU countries are the second largest buyers for both countries after India. Indonesia exported 4.37 million tons of palm oils to EU countries last year, according to data from the Indonesian Palm Oil Association (Gapki), while Malaysia exported 2.06 million tons of the commodity.
REUTERS | ABDUL MALIK
