Palmoil.io Newsletter - March 2023

Palmoil.io’s March Newsletter is here! Catch up with the latest from an announcement of speaking appearance of our CEO and Founder himself, the newest grievance visualizations, a deforestation case in Central Africa and of course about the EUDR.

What’s new?

We just got back from visiting our friends in Bogor, as part of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation Program, Palmoil.io did a workshop series of training sessions with Forest Watch Indonesia, Kaoem Telapak and Sawit Watch Indonesia. During our visit, we got a chance to not only see what they have been up to and what they are currently doing, but also how Palmoil.io has been helping them in their work. A special highlight from their feedback was how they were utilizing our news collection to support grievance cases.

New Features to Make Palmoil.io EUDR Ready

We don’t have to tell you just how important refineries are to the palm oil supply chain. There is an exciting new feature, simple yet very significant, bound to help you a lot in your experience using Palmoil.io - Risk Insight counts for Processing Facilities. When you go to our Processing Facilities dashboard and slide to see all the different columns available, you will see an “RI Count” column. As you filter through, you will see just which of these processing facilities have had the most Risk Insights, which are our verified deforestation reports. This feature will help you identify facilities which are sourcing from mills with recent cases of palm-related deforestation. This will help both refiners and their buyers, prioritize addressing potential NDPE violations and EU Deforestation Regulation compliance risks.

What’s coming up?

We are excited to announce that our CEO and Founder, Leo Bottrill, will be speaking at the upcoming RSPO Inter-American Conference. The conference is being held in Miami, May 30-31, 2023. This conference will mark the first of its kind, gathering key actors of the palm oil industry in Latin America and North America in Miami, Florida. It will be a chance for those who have been working in the region to have the opportunity to share their lessons learned and experience in the palm oil industry. Leo looks forward to learning about the challenges and opportunities to sustainable palm oil in the Americas. See you there!

Tip of the month

Last month we talked all about Palmoil.io’s latest grievance visualizations, have you given it a try yourself? You may have noticed that there are more ways than one to view the grievances on Palmoil.io. You can see the status, stage and outcome in two different ways, both are easy to read and accessible to you, our subscribers. You can simply switch back and forth between a “pie chart” visualization or “bar chart” visualization by clicking on the sliding tab under each category. Hope this could only further help your time on Palmoil.io

Case of the month

This month we are taking a closer look at recent deforestation coming out of South, Cameroon in Central Africa. The deforestation is happening near Kienke POM Mill inside the FMU 09 025 (Camvert Concession) and is calculated around 5,500 Ha of industrial deforestation since January 2021. Kienke POM Mill, part of the Socfin Group, is the closest mill, however, we think that Camvert will likely build their own mill. Nearly 48% of Cameroon’s palm oil comes from the Socapalm plantations (La Société Camerounaise des Palmeraies). Yes, this deforestation is an EU risk.

Palm oil has been an integral part of the people’s diet in Central Africa, particularly in Cameroon, for many years. In Cameroon, urbanization and population growth have led to an increase in palm oil demand and hence a more intensive oil palm cultivation. Smallholder plantations have multiplied. After its independence, the government launched an investment program for the large industrial plantations to address the palm oil shortage on the local market. Nonetheless, Cameroon is presently still obliged to import 50% of its domestic vegetable oil needs.

Benefit of the month

By now you should have heard through the industry’s grapevine about the EU Deforestation Regulation and here at Palmoil.io, we are already making things easier for you to do your due diligence. How you may ask? Well among the many things, Palmoil.io has added a column of EU Risk not only on our Risk Insights, but also on our dashboards. You can filter those that are a risk and those that aren't with a click of a button. You can also filter through the types of risk that are documented by Palmoil.io, may it be a recent deforestation, remaining forest/peat or a historical deforestation, you can search the ones you need to do your due diligence.

Don’t forget that Palmoil.io is here with you for the upcoming EUDR! Here are the ways we can help:

Review suppliers
Palmoil.io maintains dashboards on hundreds of upstream suppliers. We monitor their supply chain using radar alerts (RADD), track their grievances, and suspensions

Identify and monitor high risk mills and concessions
Palmoil.io monitors mills and deforestation in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Colombia for monthly deforestation. We use high resolution satellite imagery to verify deforestation events and file reports to your dashboard.

Screen your concessions and smallholder plots
If you have private concession boundaries and plots, we can help you run a deforestation and traceability analysis for EU Deforestation Regulation and other risks. This service is currently undergoing testing, so please contact us if you interested in trying it out.

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