Updated CSPO and CSPKO production and sales data

In accordance with RSPO’s aim to boost the transparency of the sustainable palm oil sector, the Secretariat has improved data collection requirements during Principle and Criteria (P&C) audits to bring greater clarity on the volumes of certified material produced and sold.

Alongside data on Total Certified Volumes1, the RSPO Secretariat has now published additional information on the Actual Production2 and sales of RSPO Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) and Certified Sustainable Palm Kernel Oil (CSPKO) in order to give greater insight into the dynamics of supply and demand for certified palm products.

The improved requirements for data collection during P&C audits, means that now in addition to reporting the Total Certified Volume of RSPO certified mills, RSPO also reports the Actual Production of these mills. A comparison of Actual Volumes achieved with projected Certified Volumes shows a 20% shortfall associated with agronomic and operational reasons such as variations in climatic conditions.

In addition, for RSPO mills that are also certified through other sustainability schemes, RSPO will now include volumes sold through these ‘other schemes’. This enhanced level of data collection and reporting, enables RSPO to provide greater accuracy and transparency when measuring CSPO and CSPKO production and sales. The new data shows that approximately 25% of Actual Production of certified CSPO, is sold under other schemes.

The Actual Production of CSPK was not reported before and therefore estimated by aggregation of the confirmed CSPK Shipping Announcements done by the palm oil mills to the Kernel Crushing Plant in each year and converting this to CSPKO volume by multiplying it by the Palm Kernel Oil Yield (45%). CSPKO sales for all supply chain models are now reported as sales by the Kernel Crushing Plants.

Overall the new data reveals an upward trend in uptake of RSPO certified sustainable volumes, in line with the principle of shared responsibility.

RSPO CSPO Production and Sale Insights:

• The Actual Production of CSPO is on average 20% lower than the Total Certified Volume3.

• The data as of September 2021 shows that of the Actual Production of CSPO 64.3% was sold as RSPO, and 25% was sold under other schemes.

RSPO CSPKO Production and Sale Insights:

• For CSPKO, there are no sales reported under other schemes.

• Over the past 12 months, Palm Kernel Crushing Plants sold 127.9% of the estimated Actual Production of CSPKO as RSPO certified.

Historically, the supply and sale of CSPKO has been limited despite both increasing availability and demand. Not all Certified Sustainable Palm Kernels (CSPK) are converted into CSPKO. There are a number of reasons why this has occurred, including business decisions linked to long-term supply arrangements, supply not tracking with overall demand or limitations on the capacity of certified Kernel Crushing Plants. Over the past years, sales of CSPKO were higher than Actual Production. A reason for this could be that CSPKO Credits and Mass Balance stocks of Kernel Crushing Plants do not expire, therefore these can be carried over to the next reporting year. And secondly, CSPKO sales can be higher than Actual Production due to the one to one conversion of CSPK IP/SG to CSPKO MB (as per clause C.5.3 in the RSPO Supply Chain Certification Standard).

Currently, downstream RSPO members indicate that market demand for CSPKO derivatives is not met by supply. The RSPO is looking into these matters further.

Please find the new information on the RSPO website.

¹ Total Certified Volumes is the projected or potential volume of CSPO/CSPKO for the coming year based on the maturity of the oil palms and area under production, and the oil and kernel extraction rate. The Certified Volume is determined and audited in the annual audit process. 

² Actual Production of CSPO is the physical volume of CSPO generated by the mill in the previous year. The Actual Production is recorded during audits. The Actual Production of CSPKO is estimated by aggregation of the confirmed CSPK Shipping Announcements done by the palm oil mills to the Kernel Crushing Plant in each year and converting this to CSPKO volume by multiplying it by the Palm Kernel Oil Yield (45%). 

³ The monitoring and assessment of the Total Certified Volumes reported for the mills shows that the Actual Production is approximately 20% lower than the Total Certified Volume. The Total Certified Volume is overestimated due to agronomic/operational reasons, e.g. due to climate conditions, the expected volume was not achieved.