Leverage for Palm Oil Negotiations
Glenn Hurowitz, an environmentalist working with the Forest Heroes group, describes how the emergence of western markets provided leverage for their discussions with Wilmar, the world’s leading palm oil trading firm.
“Wilmar was the world’s leading palm oil trading firm, controlling 40% of the market. In the U.S., protesters descended on Kellogg’s, a Wilmar customer and JV partner. In Indonesia, Greenpeace attacked Wilmar, accusing the company of ‘laundering dirty palm oil’ through its trading operations.
Glenn Hurowitz, an environmentalist working with the Forest Heroes group, was one of the leaders of the campaign against Wilmar. As the haze choked Southeast Asia, he appeared on Singaporean TV to decry Wilmar’s oil trading operations. While Hurowitz was careful to note that Wilmar didn’t engage in deforestation on land that it controlled, he condemned the company for purchasing palm oil from other suppliers that were initiating the fires and causing deforestation.
The public pressure, particularly in Singapore, caused Wilmar to reconsider its position.”
