The Group began its oil palm (or 棕櫚油, パーム油) plantation venture in 2004 with a landbank of around 5,000 hectares. Over time, as the Group expanded its oil palm operations, the landbank has grown to over 44,500 hectares. These oil palm estates are spread across various regions in Sarawak, namely Sibu, Mukah, Samarahan, and Kapit.More than 47% of the Group’s landbank has been planted and approximately 23% of the planted area is in the immature to young mature cluster, while the rest has reached the prime mature stage. Therefore, the weighted palm age of our plantation is 10.2 years old.

Contrary to myths claiming that oil palm plantation activity is a major contributor to global warming and deforestation, findings by Reinhardt from Institute for Energy and Environmental Research has shown that palm oil produced least carbon dioxide compared to other vegetable oils, while Stern Report clarified that oil palm plantation activity accounts for only 20-30% of forest land cleared in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Evidently, palm oil has remained as an immensely popular export product. Reuters reported in May 2010 (“Malaysia’s $25-bln palm oil refining sector”) Malaysia is the world’s second largest producer of palm oil.

It was highlighted that in China, the lead importer, agricultural companies have converted palm oil into cooking oil and instant noodle makers use palm oil to deep-fry flour noodles for a longer shelf life. Other global F&B giants such as Unilever, Nestle, Kraft, Burger King Holdings and McDonald’s Corp also buy refined palm oil products to aid in their baking and frying food production. While beauty companies like L’Oreal use refined palm kernel oil for cosmetics and other palm oil products for hair and body products.

Our oil palm plantations have also remained rigorously compliant with statutory requirements including the submission of Environmental Impact Assessment Report, quarterly submission of Environmental Monitoring Report and half-yearly submission of Progress Report on Oil Palm Plantation Development. To comply with sustainability measures, all of the Group’s oil palm estates have obtained full certification under the Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (“MSPO”) certification.