23-24 Aug, 2016 - Bali, INDONESIA
Sheraton Bali Kuta Resort
Sheraton Bali Kuta Resort
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A joint venture between Wilmar International and India’s biggest palm oil refiner Ruchi Soya, aims to cater to the increasing food demand in India.
The collaboration between Ruchi Soya and Adani Wilmar – part of a joint venture between Wilmar and Adani Enterprises - will own and manage the procurement, sales and marketing businesses of both parties. This will enable the firms to increase efficiency and consolidate costs across logistics, supply chain management, manpower and distribution.
The new company will market and distribute finished products from both companies' manufacturing businesses in India, including oil seeds and vegetables, soya foods, oleochemicals, biodiesel, grains, and castor oil and its derivatives. The joint venture aims to address India's complex agricultural environment, where farm productivity is declining while consumption is increasing with the country's growing population.
"We are very bullish on Indian demand for high quality food products due to its population and economic growth,” said Wilmar Group CEO Kuok Khoon Hong. “The joint venture will be well-positioned to leverage on its strong base in edible oils and capture a good share of this demand to become one of India's leading consumer goods companies."
Managing Director of Ruchi Soya, Dinesh Shahra, said the company was honoured of the partnership. "This joint venture will not only enable us to continue with our core manufacturing operations via toll processing arrangements, but also to capture the synergistic value by working closely together and learning from each other's experience to make things more lean and efficient," he said.
Find out more about the oleochemicals industry at the 4th Oleochemicals Outlook on 23-24 August in Bali.
01 Jul, 2016
The European agribusiness firm Louis Dreyfus (LDC) has recently established their first biodiesel plant in Asia, as part of their commitment to support Indonesia’s drive to develop and promote renewable energy usage.
Building on the B10 and B15 programs, the Indonesian government has launched the B20 biodiesel program in order to encourage the use of non-fossil fuels. B20 makes it mandatory for public diesel to be blended with 20 per cent palm oil-biodiesel. The resulting biofuel is expected to eventually replace diesel fuel, to reduce the country’s dependence on petroleum-based fuel and its carbon emissions.
Data from the Indonesian Oil Palm Estate Fund (BPDP) shows that the implementation of B20 can reduce emissions equivalent to 9 to 18 million tons of carbon dioxide per year. And while production output of the biofuel was about 20 per cent less than the two-month target of 500,000 kiloliters, the BPDP is confident that 3 million kiloliters can be distributed by the end of the year.
LDC Indonesia CEO Imran Nasrullah said that the US$30 million biodiesel plant, located in Lampung adjacent to their existing palm oil refinery, supports Indonesia’s goal of self-sufficiency through a viable, sustainable supply of renewable fuel. He added that the company was also considering opening a second biodiesel plant in Indonesia.
Learn more about the impact of the B20 program on the biodiesel industry, at the 4th Oleochemicals Outlook on 23-24 August in Bali.
16 Jun, 2016
The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil’s (RSPO) has made the strongest intervention in its 12-year history, by suspending the sustainable certification of one of its founding members, Malaysian company IOI. The entire IOI Group and its trading division IOI Loders Croklaan, which supplies palm oil to more than 300 companies, will be affected by the decision.
Greenpeace first reported IOI’s alleged destruction of orangutan habitat and peatland forest in 2008. Since then, the company has been in the spotlight for deforestation and repeated fire outbreaks. In 2014, after facing allegations from the NGO Finnwatch over labour issues on its Malaysian plantations, they responded they had “taken measures to improve the working conditions on its estates”. The following year, sustainability consultants Aidenvironment submitted a formal complaint to RSPO for deforestation in IOI concessions.
In April, after IOI had published two actions plans but didn’t follow through with them, the RSPO suspended its sustainable certification. IOI’s initial response to all but one of the complaints against them was that they were “unproven and unsubstantiated”. They now state that they have taken “corrective actions to review and enhance its sustainability practices”, and assure they have made improvements and are committed to a comprehensive action plan.
Following news of the suspension, Unilever – also a founder of the RSPO and one of the world’s largest end-users of palm oil – cancelled its contracts with IOI. Kellogg, Mars, Hershey’s, Kellogg’s, Colgate-Palmolive, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, SC Johnson, Yum Brands and Nestlé have also announced they would stop sourcing from IOI.
Learn more about sustainability measures in the oleo value chain at CMT’s 4th Oleochemicals Outlook on 23-24 August in Bali.
18 May, 2016
