Nestle Steps In It Twice - With Indonesian Oil Palm Producers And W. European Customers

[hatrack]

Candy and food giant Nestle is finding itself between a rock and a hard place. The online campaign against Nestle continues: today protesters once again posted thousands of negative messages on the company's Facebook page, most demanding that Nestle cut out palm oil linked to deforestation from its products. At the same time, a new problem has cropped up for Nestle: Indonesian oil palm planters are threatening to boycott Nestle products.

Proving that the issues surrounding oil palm and deforestation are nothing if not complex: Facebook protestors say they will boycott Nestle if it doesn't cut out all links to Sinar Mas, a company that Greenpeace has linked to deforestation, whereas the Indonesia Palm Oil Growers Association are preparing a boycott if Nestle stops buying from Sinar Mas, according to the Jakarta Globe.

"About 10 million oil palm farmers in 20 Indonesian provinces have stated their readiness to boycott Nestle products. Apkasindo is now preparing to draw up a list of Nestle products on the market," Asmar Arsjad, Apkasindo secretary general, said over the weekend, adding that if Nestle stops buying from Sinar Mas it would hurt palm oil producers.

Adding fuel to fire, Antara News reports that Indonesian and Malaysian palm oil producers are threatening to stop exports of crude palm oil to the US and the EU if negative campaigns over their environmental practices continue. Palm oil, the world's most productive oil seed, has come to be used in everything from food products to cosmetics. Nestle has already promised it will stop purchasing from Sinar Mas due to a report from Greenpeace showing that the Indonesian company was involved in destruction of rainforests and peatlands for oil palm plantations. However, Nestle still buys indirectly from Sinar Mas, since one of its suppliers, Cargill, buys from the Indonesian company.

EDIT

http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0322-hance_nestle_boycott.html

In a bold online video, the environmental group Greenpeace cleverly links candy-giant Nestle to oil palm-related deforestation and the deaths of orangutans. Cleary angered over the video, Nestle struck back by having it banned from YouTube and replaced with this statement: "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Société des Produits Nestlé S.A."

However Nestle's reaction to the video only spread it far and wide (see the ad below): social network sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit were all flooded with the ad as well as rising criticism against Nestle—one of the world's largest food producers—including calls for boycotts.

Greenpeace began sustained action against Nestle on Wednesday when they released new evidence that linked Nestle to illegal deforestation in Indonesia through one of its palm oil suppliers, Sinar Mas. "While many companies such as Unilever and Kraft are making efforts to disassociate themselves from the worst practices of the palm oil industry, Nestlé has done diddly squat," the organization wrote in a blog.

The report spurred Nestle to cancel its contract with Sinar Mas—months after Sinar Mas was shown to be involved in illegal deforestation—but the corporation continues to purchase oil palm from Cargill, which is supplied in part by Sinar Mas. For its part, Cargill says it is investigating Greenpeace's allegations and if Sinar Mas is found to be committing illegal deforestation they will drop them. Nestle has said in a statement: "we share the deep concern about the serious environmental threat to rain forests and peat fields in South East Asia caused by the planting of palm oil plantations."

EDIT

http://news.mongabay.com/2010/319-hance_nestle.html