The Musim Mas Group, one of the world’s largest, integrated palm oil corporations has announced a new collaboration to investigate the conditions under which supply chain sustainability initiatives can lead to reduced deforestation in the palm oil sector,...
Palm oil industry experts have warned that the European Union’s (EU) latest proposed regulations on deforestation carry major risk of upsetting Indonesia amidst ongoing free-trade negotiations.
The Indonesian palm oil sector has urged the European Union to ensure that its final regulatory approach to imported commodities does not discriminate against palm oil, warning that efforts to replace it as an ingredient could lead to even ‘bigger problems’...
Indonesia’s representative palm oil body GAPKI is concerned that it may not be able to produce enough of the commodity this year, given that added demand is expected as economies recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Barry Callebaut Group has announced the appointment of PT Sinarniaga Sejahtera (SNS) as its distributor for Van Houten Professional sustainable compound chocolate products in Indonesia.
Mondelēz International has opened its state-of-the-art cocoa crop science technical center in Pasuruan, Indonesia, representing an important step in the company’s mission to secure a sustainable future for high-quality cocoa, so consumers can enjoy ‘the...
Indonesia has seen export volumes for its palm oil, its top agricultural commodity, drop drastically since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, with even bigger slumps set to come.
Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands are the latest countries to adopt the International Palm Oil Free Certification Trademark (POFCAP), bringing the number of countries using the label to 20.
Expected to open in mid-2020, the supplier broke ground this week on the Baramati facility, which will produce 30k tons of chocolate and compound annually.
Cargill is aiming to advance the digital transparency and traceability capabilities in its major Asian supplier nation of Indonesia, in an effort to augment both financial and physical transparency in the region.
PepsiCo has voiced its 'disappointment' in Indonesian food giant Indofood's decision to withdraw from the Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) certification scheme ‘with immediate effect’. Indofood had cited ‘extreme disappointment’...
Premium chocolate company Barry Callebaut wil introduce its Cocoa Horizons sustainability project in Indonesia this year, following respectable global sustainability results revealed in its recently-published Forever Chocolate Progress Report 2017/18.
Barry Callebaut has extended its partnership with Indonesian food and beverage giant Garudafood, with an eye on capturing a bigger share of country’s chocolate market.
Nestlé announced it closed its joint venture with the Indofood Group last month, while PepsiCo reiterated its stance to not source palm oil – either directly or indirectly – from the company and its subsidiaries, purportedly linked to deforestation and...
Global palm oil production is expected to grow by 6m tonnes this year, after output was hit hard in 2016 due to the strong effects of the lingering El Niño weather system from the previous year.
Haze from slash-and-burn agricultural has returned to Southeast Asia this year. Is it enough to wait for regulators to bring the (mainly palm oil) culprits to justice? Asian resource legal experts Rick Beckmann and Kresna Panggabean enter the storm.
Greenpeace activists are blocking palm oil imports from Malaysian trader IOI at Rotterdam harbour in protest at the firm's involvement in forest destruction, peatland fires and use of child labour.
After less than two years in existence, the Indonesian Palm Oil Pledge has disbanded to the dismay of environmentalists who say its member companies were bullied by the Indonesian government into adopting weaker standards.
Barry Callebaut is expanding its sustainability program in Indonesia and has announced plans to train 50,000 farmers in good agricultural practice by 2020.
The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) will publish maps of all its members’ palm oil plantations – with the exception of Malaysia – in the hope closer monitoring will prevent forest fires and peat land destruction. But is this enough?
The Norwegian national investment fund has cut ties with four major Asian companies, citing the risk of ‘severe environmental damage’ as a result of palm oil plantations.
Barry Callebaut has announced it will establish a chocolate plant on the premises of Indonesian biscuit firm GarudaFood to supply it 10,000 metric tons of compound chocolate per year.
Austrian-based biscuit firm Josef Manner is considering marking its entry into Asia by entering Indonesia, where there is already an established wafer market.
Special edition: Beyond 2020 - The future of sustainable cocoa
Asia is poised to help meet rising demand for cocoa, but its key producer Indonesia faces quality concerns and its government lacks incentive to grow the sector.
Multinationals chocolate companies and the public and private sector will come together this week to assess the future of cocoa sustainability in Asia and how to capitalize on rising chocolate demand in the reg
Mondelēz, Mars, Nestlé and Barry Callebaut and Cargill are backing a three-year sustainable cocoa program in Indonesia, which aims to reduce poverty and greenhouse gas emissions.
Swiss business developer and Indonesian government signs Cargill Cocoa Promise, just as the firm announces initial cocoa processing tests at its first Asian plant in East Java.
By Rick Beckmann, senior foreign legal counsel, and Aldi Rakhmatillah, associate, of Susandarini & Partners, in association with Norton Rose Fulbright Australia
How should Indonesia and, more to the point, the local community, benefit from foreign investment in plantations?
The Indonesian deputy trade minister has said that after successfully increasing domestic cocoa grinding capacity the country should lower cocoa bean import duties to prevent shortages in the future.
Indonesian sugar consumption is set to rise 12% this year and could benefit the country’s leading confectioner Petra Foods. On the flip side, multinationals may see it as a chance to grow market share.
Singapore-based Petra Foods has reported first quarter profit gains in its branded consumer division driven by rising chocolate consumption in markets such as Indonesia and the Philippines and improved margins by introducing more premium products.
Cargill has been granted the Standard National of Indonesia (SNI) for its Gerkens cocoa powders produced in the Netherlands, enabling it to export the powders to the country.
Cargill has extended its sustainable cocoa program to Indonesia and plans to take preventative measure to turn ailing crops into high cocoa yielding money-spinners.
Singapore-based Petra Foods’ cocoa ingredients business had nosedived in its second quarter (Q2) results due to weakening chocolate demand in developed markets.
The world’s leading cocoa manufacturer Barry Callebaut has entered a joint venture with Indonesian cocoa exporter P.T. Comextra Majora and has announced plans to build a €24m manufacturing facility.
The Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI) has withdrawn from the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which currently offers the only international audit scheme for producers of certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO).
Indonesia is the focus of an extension of Nestlé’s sustainable Cocoa Plan initiative, with the Swiss food group aiming to pump $4m (€2.7m) into bean production in that country.
Cocoa bean exports were hit for the first time in four months as heavy rains damaged crops and disrupted transport, according to the Indonesian Cocoa Association.
Quality and supply problems stand in the way of buying palm oil entirely from certified sustainable sources, according to Nutella manufacturer Ferrero.
Vietnam looks set to become one of Asia's primary cocoa producers,
with the government pledging to invest 40 billion
dong (€1.8m) in the country's burgeoning cocoa trade, according to
local news reports.
A moth with a penchant for cocoa may not sound too great an
ecological threat, but the Cocoa Pod Borer (CPB) is threatening to
ruin Papua New Guinea's entire crop.
