By Rick Beckmann, senior foreign legal counsel, and Aldi Rakhmatillah, associate, of Susandarini & Partners, in association with Norton Rose Fulbright Australia
How should Indonesia and, more to the point, the local community, benefit from foreign investment in plantations?
Omega 3 from herring caviar will find a new market in Southeast Asia following a deal inked last week between Norway’s Arctic Nutrition and Holista Colltech of Malaysia that will see the fatty acid added to its supplements.
By Rick Beckmann, senior foreign legal counsel and Aldi Rakhmatillah, associate, of Susandarini & Partners in association with Norton Rose Fulbright Australia
The Indonesian Government is planning to crack down on further expansion of groups in the powerful palm oil plantation industry and, indirectly, foreign conglomerates.
GreenPalm has announced the first certified trade of palm oil by-product for feed use, hailing the development a triumph in supply chain sustainability for food manufacturers.
The Indonesian deputy trade minister has said that after successfully increasing domestic cocoa grinding capacity the country should lower cocoa bean import duties to prevent shortages in the future.
Now Thailand has been given approval to use stevia in food and beverages, Indonesia is the only Southeast Asian nation waiting for the authorities to give the regulatory go-ahead for the natural sweetener.
Indonesia has approved a plan to buy one million hectares of Australian farmland in the country’s north in order to solve its own crippling beef supply problems.
The non-Asian ingredient supply sector is fairly well represented here at Food Ingredients Asia-Thailand in Bangkok, but given current concerns about food supply chain security in the region, is probably still under-represented. Which is surprising…
Flavouring companies looking to expand across Asia should forget China. That’s the point San-Ei Gen’s David Tan was making as he spoke to FoodNavigator-Asia during Fi Asia-Thailand in Bangkok, adding that the youthful markets of Indonesia and the Philippines...
Having an office in the Philippines is a “logical step”, according to Barentz after the ingredients company opened the doors to its new Manilla base last weekend.
Malaysian tongkat ali supplier Biotropics has found significant growth in the United States on the back of some savvy media marketing through celebrity health shows.
This time last year, the Southeast Asian nations of Asean set out to create the single largest regulatory framework for dietary supplements in the world. We spoke to Dato' Dr Rajen M, who has been advising on Malaysia's position, to give us...
Food companies that only use certified sustainable palm oil have been accused of “certifying destruction”, according to a Greenpeace report released to coincide with the first European Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) summit in Berlin this week.
The world’s biggest manufacturer of Traditional Chinese Medicines (TCMs) outside of China has defended the quality of the sector as contaminated products continue to raise red flags with regulators in the UK, Hong Kong, Denmark and elsewhere.
Fonterra has rubbished reports that four Sri Lanka-based executives have been summoned to face contempt of court charges over the company's alleged failure to comply with a ban on the sale and advertising of its milk products in the country.
Interview: Prof Suhaila Mohamed, Universiti Putra Malaysia
Government financing and promotion of herbal ingredients research has helped Malaysia to become one of the world leaders in the field, according to one of the country’s pre-eminent researchers.
Petra Foods has reported growth in its consumer goods division in its second quarter (Q2) results and says it is planning to capitalize on the growing middle classes in Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore with premium products.
An outbreak of early mortality syndrome (EMS) might have stalled a decade-long boom in the shrimp industry, but a new better understanding of the pathogen might mean significant growth once again.
Still drinks continue to attract new consumers in Indonesia and Coca-Cola Amatil was smart to expand its Minute Maid range with new flavour variants there last year, Canadean insists.
Soaring whey prices are changing the face of the protein concentrate market, but hefty Asian-driven premiums won’t signal a flood to plant proteins, says an analyst.
The Rainforest Action Network (RAN) has accused Cargill of using child labour in its palm oil supply chain – and Cargill says it has registered its concern with supplier KLK.
In a country where demand for beans far outstrips supply, a new Nescafé’s coffee centre of excellence in the Philippines has been designed as a starting point to improve the quality and quantity of the local crop.
Angry Birds branded fruit juices featuring characters from the iconic video game are being launched in Thailand, in a move that marks their first flight into Southeast Asia.
A PhD candidate at the National University of Singapore has devised a way to purify water using the peels of apples and tomatoes. This is the first time that the peels of the two fruits have been used to remove different types of pollutants in water.
German candy maker Haribo has entered the Burmese market and expanded its distribution in Singapore through a deal with expansion services provider DKSH.
The good news: Around 15% of global palm oil produced in the past year was certified by the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). The bad news: Only half of it earned a premium, which doesn’t sound like a great recipe for inspiring more producers...
Asian agri giant and Kellogg’s joint venture partner Wilmar International has defended its palm oil operations and insisted it remains undaunted by the challenge of ensuring a sustainable supply chain.
ASR Group-owned Tate & Lyle Sugars is considering legal action against The Guardian newspaper over a story published this week accusing the sugar giant of working with a Cambodian supplier that employed child labour among other human right abuses.
Kellogg says it takes palm oil sourcing extremely seriously and is defending its joint venture with Wilmar International after accusations that the Asian agri giant is involved in illegal palm oil activities.
Five RSPO-certified palm oil producers accused of contributing to Indonesian forest fires have submitted digital images of their plantations in an effort to clear their names – and the RSPO has commended them for fast action.
The third largest palm oil producer in the world, Thailand has now joined a select group of nations that supply certified sustainable palm oil (SCPO), with a first consignment ready for export to Europe.
Nestlé says its newly opened $238m soluble coffee factory in Vietnam will meet growing demand in the region, and will allow it to better adapt products to local preferences.
Only six months ago, Thai policymakers remained unruffled by their controversial populist policy, which had at the time just marked its first anniversary.
Nestlé Malaysia has broken ground on a new plant on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur that it expects will double its local ready-to-drink production capacity by the time it opens in May next year.
Mondelez International says its first training center for coffee farmers to promote sustainability and entrepreneurship, in Vietnam, will help it meet a 100% sustainable sourcing goal in Western Europe.
Heineken insists it is ‘absolutely on top’ of the counterfeiting issues that can appear in emerging markets, after a Vietnamese gang producing fake Tiger and Heineken was busted last week.
The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) has given five of its Indonesian members 48 hours to submit satellite images of their plantations, as evidence that they are not responsible for the forest fires that have engulfed several South East Asian...
Tetra Pak has teamed up with its parent company, Tetra Laval, and the government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar to launch a school milk programme in the hope of improving milk consumption at critical growth ages.
Researchers in Singapore have identified that eating high quantities of red meat over a period of time can increase the risk of type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).
With the bunting barely cleared away following Coca-Cola’s triumphal march on Rangoon earlier this month, the company’s local partner has already indicated more celebrations are on the horizon.
It is no secret Malaysia has a strict halal verification process and its certification is accepted across all Muslim countries, including the Middle East. But why did the country embark on a policy to tame the standards beast.
Campaign marks shift from 'saying and showing' to more real actions
A senior Coca-Cola Company executive tells BeverageDaily.com that the company is ‘working hard’ to decide whether it can viably scale-up its phenomenally successful ‘Sharing Can’ pilot launched in Singapore.
Last month, Synergy, the Irish-owned flavours and ingredients company, opened a new manufacturing facility in Thailand, making it the latest in a long line of Western companies tapping the country as a major outpost.
Taiwan’s government has claimed it is still trying to obtain details on the tests conducted by Singapore authorities that led to the city state banning several brands of bubble tea.
Thailand’s Public Health Ministry is hoping to boost the average height and life expectancy of its population through a campaign to encourage milk consumption.
Singapore food inspection authorities have withdrawn 11 starch-based products from Taiwan - mostly tapioca starch balls used in bubble tea - from sale after finding they contained amounts of an unapproved chemical.
