AreaMalaysia

Commodity GroupOilseeds, oils and meals

CommodityPalm oil

Date01/11/2017

Policy CategoryTrade

Policy InstrumentTrade standard

DescriptionContinued efforts to increase international acceptance of the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certification scheme. In addition to smallholders, larger producers and processing facilities were also included among recipients of audit cost subsidies.

NotesEarlier this year, the Government announced that it would fully cover the audit fees incurred by oil palm smallholders certifying their production under the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil scheme (MSPO) – the state-backed standard set to become mandatory across the industry by end-2019 (see MPPU Sep.’17). In October, ministry officials informed that also larger producers and processing facilities adopting MSPO certification would receive financial support. For estates cultivating between 40 and 1 000 hectares, 70 percent of audit cost would be covered, while estates above 1 001 hectares as well as crushers and refiners would be covered at a rate of 30 percent. In the meantime, the Government continued pursuing its efforts to obtain international acceptance of the standard, underlining that MSPO-certified palm oil is produced ‘balancing the needs of people, profit and planet’.