Cargill, Unilever Ink Sustainable Palm Oil Deal

SCHIEDAM, The NetherlandsCargill announced the signing of a supply agreement to provide Unilever's European operations with 10,000 metric tons of segregated refined palm oil, certified by the Round Table for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

"Our agreement with Unilever is the result of both companies' strong commitment to supporting responsible supply chains," said Paul Naar, head of Cargill's food business in Europe. "As the demand for certified sustainable palm oil continues to grow, we are combining our supply chain expertise and industry knowledge to provide customers with choices to meet their particular requirements. We are very pleased to partner with Unilever and see this as a big step forward in the drive towards palm oil sustainability."

Cargill's offering of fully segregated refined palm oil follows the RSPO certification of the company's European and Malaysian oil refineries. Cargill fully has set a goal of buying 60 percent of its total crude palm oil from RSPO members by the end of 2010. It also encourages its third-party suppliers to join RSPO and attain certification and its eventual goal is to have a 100-percent RSPO certified supply chain.

Unilever is ahead of plan to achieving 100-percent sustainable palm oil by 2015 with over 35 percent already being RSPO certified this year," said Marc Engel, chief procurement officer at Unilever. Today's announcement marks another important milestone in our journey to 100-percent sustainable palm oil, as Cargill's physically segregated certified oil will be delivered in our factories and used in our products. We are very pleased that Cargill, as one of our strategic partners, is sharing our vision on sustainable palm oil and enabling this for us."