Samudera Sawit Nabati (SSN)

1) Rainforest Action Network (RAN) report titled, “The Last of the Leuser Lowlands: Field Investigation Exposes Big Brands Buying Illegal Palm Oil From the Singkil-Bengkung Peatlands” (30 September 2019)

(1) The report highlights the role of major food brands, traders and global banks in driving deforestation in Leuser Ecosystem’s Singkil-Bengkung region.

The report alleged several Palm Oil mills to be sourcing illegal FFB, one of which was Samudera Sawit Nabati (SSN). It was reported that SSN sourced illegal FFB through a broker, CV. Buana Indah who in turn bought from Smallholders illegally planting palms inside the Rawa Singkil Wildlife Reserve.

September 2019
Musim Mas’ official statement to the RAN report can be found here.

We have reached out to SSN the moment we received the report to verify the allegations and we will conduct verification on the allegations made. Our Sustainability team have arranged for a field verification trip to SSN in end October 2019.

October 2019
Our Sustainability team went down to SSN to verify the supply chain linkages between SSN and CV Buana Indah. We will be reviewing the report of the field verification closely when it is released and work with engaging SSN in the meantime.

We will be holding a supplier workshop at the end of the month, and SSN has agreed to attend. We will be sharing our Sustainability Policy, Traceability Policy and NDPE commitments during this workshop.

SSN attended the supplier workshop held in Medan by Musim Mas where we explained our Sustainability policies and procedures, as well as our requirements.

December 2019
Another supplier workshop will be held in Subulussalam, Aceh Province, for the mills and FFB suppliers within the Singkil district.

October 2019
We conducted a field verification on 24 October 2019 via document review, site visits and one-on-one interviews with various parties. The mill has been cooperative and has dedicated resources to implement sustainability matters.

The verification of the supplier list and daily weighbridge record for the month of September and October 2019 did not find records to indicate sourcing of FFB from the agent, CV Buana Indah.

SSN is currently fully traceable to the agents and the mill is also working on traceability with two agents, through collaboration with a service provider (KOLTIVA).

In general, traceability is lacking and there is no SOP for traceability in place. There is also no commitment letter from suppliers to confirm if they agree to provide traceability information of the FFB sourced and to ensure that the supply comes from legal sources. SSN’s mill has yet to be ISPO certified.

Community leaders were interviewed to help us understand the community encroachment into protected areas and the efforts taken to rehabilitate the area. Population displacement into the protected Singkil swamp area took place during the various phases of conflict in Aceh (starting in the 1970s). The temporary settlements became permanent over the years, including some perennial crops such as oil palm.

An action plan was developed and it includes the following:

1. Map showing the high-risk areas, which is to be shared with all FFB suppliers
2. Request all FFB suppliers to commit to sourcing only from outside of the protected areas
3. Stop FFB purchase from suppliers without a signed commitment letter
4. All suppliers should be able to document that FFB sourced are from legal sources (with user rights and not associated with protected areas), and are respectful of social and human rights. Verify the legality of suppliers
5. Develop/update traceability SOP and share it with all suppliers
6. Document the location of direct suppliers (plantations, direct/indirect agents and direct small growers/farmers) and map the Smallholders supply shed, starting with risk-based traceability
7. Develop a traceability action plan

The monitoring of the delivery of the action plan will be conducted by Musim Mas.