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MALAYSIAN palm-oil producer FGV Holdings said today it was determined to clear its name after the United States banned imports of its products.
The US Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Trade said it was banning the company’s goods because of indications that they were produced by forced labour, citing concerns about child labour and physical and sexual violence.
The announcement came a week after a major investigation into the palm-oil industry found rampant abuse of workers’ rights, including use of slave labour and trafficked and child workers.
The abuses were rife across the industry in Malaysia and Indonesia, the Associated Press probe found.
The two countries account for 85 per cent of the world’s production and have been criticised for felling large areas of forest to increase palm cultivation, pushing animals such as the orang-utan, Sumatran rhinoceros and Sumatran tiger to the brink of extinction.
