JAKARTA - The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) stated that Uncle Sam's country has banned the import of crude palm oil (CPO) from Malaysian producer Sime Darby Plantation. This assertion was made because the Malaysian company was suspected of carrying out forced labor in the production process.
The ban on Sime Darby - one of the palm oil companies with the largest land area in the world - is a blow to the palm oil industry which has faced accusations of labor and human rights abuses.
Palm oil is used in all aspects of human life, from food to cosmetics and biodiesel. Palm oil is mainly produced in Malaysia and Indonesia, where producers are also blamed for large-scale deforestation and habitat destruction.
The US CBP has issued an order withholding release to Sime Darby, which would allow her to withhold deliveries on suspicion of involvement of forced labor under a long-running US law aimed at fighting trafficking, child labor and other abuses of human rights.
A spokesman for Sime Darby did not immediately comment on the ban and the allegations. CBP said the order was based on months of investigation that reasonably indicated an indicator of the International Labor Organization's forced labor on the Sime Darby plantation.
"We believe that there are some systemic problems in all of Sime Darby's plantations," said Ana Hinojosa, executive director of CBP's Trade Improvement Law Enforcement Directorate.
Sime Darby is the third Malaysian company to be hit by a US ban this year for alleged forced labor. CBP banned another Malaysian palm oil producer, FGV Holdings, in September. CBP also blocks gloves made by Top Glove, the world's largest manufacturer of medical grade latex gloves.
The Sime Darby ban, effective Wednesday, could be lifted if corrective action is taken. CBP said the United States imported $ 410 million worth of crude palm oil from Malaysia in the fiscal year ending September 2020, accounting for more than 30 percent of total US purchases of palm oil.
Sime Darby said his total annual exports to the United States were around US $ 5 million.
In July, Hong Kong-based anti-trafficking group Liberty Shared petitioned CBP to ban Sime Darby's products, citing evidence of labor abuse.
Sime Darby said at the time that the allegations ran counter to the group's public commitments to responsible agriculture and human rights.
"We believe that we have a responsibility to respect, support and uphold human rights as stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights," the company says on its website.
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