Certified Sustainable Palm Oil Production Skyrocketing

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) announced a new milestone in May. RSPO-certified palm oil facilities have now reached the five million-ton production mark.

The organization says the recent surge, the latest one million tons, happened in a short timeframe of just three months. “As a comparison, it took one full year to pass the first million tones milestone in August 2009.” RSPO is now aiming to reach 10 million certified tons by the end of this year.

The spike is attributed to increased demand and sales for palm oil that’s produced sustainably. For instance, says RSPO, sales of RSPO-certified palm oil in March “shattered” previous records, with more than 260,000 tons sold by RSPO-certified mills.

As a result, RSPO-certified palm oil now accounts for 9% of global production, which in total amounts to 46 million annual tons. The highest certification activity is seen in Malaysia, which accounts for 54% of RSPO-certified palm oil production. Indonesia is second, accounting for approximately 35% of supply. Papua New Guinea and Colombia provide the remaining 10% and 1%, respectively.