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By: BankTrack & Rainforest Action Network
Created on: 2019-06-18 13:57:02
Last update: 2020-11-19 00:00:00

Work partners:
Rainforest Action Network
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Plantation from Indofood in Riau, Indonesia. Photo: Milieudefensie/Myrthe Verwey
Sector Agriculture for Palm Oil
Headquarters
Ownership

Indofood is a subsidiary of the Salim Group, Indonesia's biggest conglomerate, owned by the Salim family.

Subsidiaries
Salim Ivomas Pratama – Indonesia
Website http://www.indofood.com

About Indofood

Established in 1968, Indofood is Indonesia’s largest food company. It also has the second largest oil palm land bank in Indonesia through its subsidiary Indofood Agri Resources. Indofood operates four business groups: Consumer branded products, Bogasari (produces mainly wheat flower), Agribusiness (palm oil production) and Distribution.

Indofood is Indonesia’s largest private palm oil company without an adequate ‘No Deforestation, No Peatland and No Exploitation’ policy, and a business partner and palm oil supplier to major global brands throughout the world. Indofood is a joint venture partner to PepsiCo—producing all PepsiCo-branded products within Indonesia — as well as Nestlé and Wilmar.

Why this profile?

Indofood needs to address ongoing labour rights violations and adopt a comprehensive ‘No Deforestation, No Peatland, and No Exploitation’ policy that applies to Indofood, the entire Salim Group, and all third-party suppliers.

Impacts

Social and human rights impacts

Violations of labor rights A June 2016 report by Rainforest Action Network (RAN) titled The Human Cost of Conflict Palm Oil, exposed Indofood's involvement in systemic violations of workers’ rights, including categorising many long-time workers as temporary and placing them at heightened risk through precarious employment practices; paying unethically low wages that often did not meet minimum wage; the presence of children working on the company's plantation as a result of setting unattainable quotas; putting workers’ health and safety at risk; and undermining Freedom of Association through automatic enrollment in a company-backed union.

A follow-up RAN investigation in November 2017, The Human Cost of Conflict Palm Oil Revisited, showed that these kinds of systemic labor violations on Indofood plantations were continuing. The report concludes that "Indofood's target-based system, coupled with the wide range of penalties which may be applied at the employer's discretion, an opaque system of pay, and ability to extract work under the menace of being paid below the minimum wage levels, creates a serious risk of forced labour."

Environmental and climate impacts

Deforestation and impact on peatlands According to an April 2018 report by Aidenvironment a satellite-based assessment of land development on Infofood's subsidiaries PT Duta Rendra Mulya and PT Sawit Khatulistiwa Lestari shows ongoing deforestation on peatlands from 2013 onwards. In total, the companies opened up 9,668 hectares of land for oil palm expansion, of which 99 percent was peatland.

The same report showed the sustainability impact of two palm oil plantations operated by Indofood sussidiaries in Sintang District, on the island of Borneo, Indonesia. Both plantation companies have continued to clear and drain the only large peat swamp forest in Sintang district, the Ketungau peat swamp, despite new regulations adopted by the Indonesian government and sustainability policies adopted by associate subsidiaries of the Salim Group, its business partners and financiers. An area, equivalant to nearly 10,000 rugby fields has been cleared for planting oil palm within a time span of just five years. This area, which was until recently an expansive peatswamp forest, will oxidize and ultimately disappear as a result of peatland subsidence, resulting in frequent and prolonged floods and considerable carbon emissions.

The Indonesian government, along with nearly three-quarters of all palm oil refiners in the world, prohibits peatland development for the expansion of oil palm plantations. Once developed, peat is extremely sensitive to fire, and if it catches, is very difficult to extinguish. Peat fires have been known to burn for months on end, despite efforts, and have been a major cause of the annual haze that envelopes Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore (Aidenvironment, 2018).

Impact on climate change When peatlands are developed, an irreversible process of degradation starts that contributes significantly to global warming through massive carbon emissions. When peatlands are left intact, they act as a natural “carbon sink”, safely absorbing and storing carbon out of the atmosphere and under ground (Aidenvironment, 2018).

In 2015 5,900 hectares of carbon-rich peatland is confirmed to have burned in two Indofood concessions, corresponding to an estimated eight million tons of CO2 emissions (Chain Reaction Research, 2017).

Impacts on wild life PT Gunta Samba, a subsidiary of the Gunta Samba Group (controlled by Anthoni Salim), cleared thousands of hectares of orangutan habitat in the East Kutai district in East Kalimantan in Indonisia between 2012-2015 (Aidenvironment, 2018).

Other impacts

Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) In March 2019 the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) terminated the membership of Indofood's subsidiaries, PT Salim Ivomas Pratama Tbk and PT PP London Sumatra Indonesia Tbk, for failure to undertake the necessary steps to comply with the 2 November 2018 decision delivered by the RSPO Complaints Panel. The RSPO found over twenty violations of the RSPO’s Principles and Criteria, as well as ten violations of Indonesian labor law, on the Indofood facilities audited.

Governance

Bank policies

The following bank investment policies apply to this project:
Mizuho Financial Group
csr policies
2018-04-01 00:00:00

Human Rights Policy

2018-04-01 00:00:00 | Mizuho Financial Group
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC)
csr policies
2018-06-18 00:00:00

Policy for business associated with environmental and social risk

2018-06-18 00:00:00 | SMBC
csr policies
2019-03-05 00:00:00

Statement on human rights

2019-03-05 00:00:00 | Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group
DBS
csr policies
2018-06-01 00:00:00

Guidelines on responsible finance

2018-06-01 00:00:00 | Association of Banks in Singapore
United Overseas Bank (UOB)
csr policies
2018-06-01 00:00:00

Guidelines on responsible finance

2018-06-01 00:00:00 | Association of Banks in Singapore

Applicable norms and standards

ILO Safety and health in forestry work
International Labour Organization Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work
Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)
RSPO Principles and Criteria for Sustainable Palm Oil Production

Financiers

As of March 31 2019, Indofood’s largest financiers include Indonesian banks Bank Mandiri and Bank Central Asia, followed by the three largest banks in Japan – Mizuho Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. See below for a full specified overview.

Rabobank, Citi and Standard Chartered have reportedly cut ties with Indofood because of sustainability concerns at its subsidiary Indofood Agri Resources. The three banks combined credit facilities of USD 118 million were no longer listed in Indofoods 1H2019 financial statements.

News

| |
Type:
Year:
blog
external news
our news

GREEN CATS 2020 UPDATE: SCORING PALM OIL AND SOY COMPANIES ON FOREST POLICIES AND TRANSPARENCY

2020-12-21 | Forest Heroes
blog
external news
our news

The Chain: Mizuho and Mandiri Replace Rabobank, Citigroup and Standard Chartered for Indofood credit facilities

2019-08-02 | Chain Reaction Research
blog
external news
our news

Citigroup cancels financing of Indonesian food giant Indofood over palm oil labor abuses

Major Asian, European banks and US brands still linked to controversial company
2019-06-18 | San Francisco, CA | Rainforest Action Network
blog
external news
our news

Citigroup cancels $140 million loan to palm oil company Indofood over labor abuses. Will others take a stand?

2019-06-17 | Rainforest Action Network
blog
external news
our news

Will PepsiCo Drop Indofood?

2019-04-29 | Rainforest Action Network
blog
external news
our news

RSPO secretariat's statement on complaints panel decision regarding PT Salim Ivomas Pratama TBK

2019-03-01 | Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil
blog
external news
our news

Palm Oil Giant Indofood Sanctioned Over Labor Rights Violations

2018-11-05 | Rainforest Action Network
blog
external news
our news

Indofood: the perfect microcosm of how the financial system is still part of the problem

2018-05-31 | RAN
blog
external news
our news

Indonesian billionaire using ‘shadow companies’ to clear forest for palm oil, says report

2018-04-12 | Eco-business.com
blog
external news
our news

Labor Abuses Still Exist at Indofood Plantations: Report

2017-12-04 | The Jakarta Globe
blog
external news
our news

Major international banks and investors finance devastating impacts of forest-risk commodities

New report finds eight corporate giants in palm oil, pulp and paper, timber and rubber involved in social and environmental scandal; exposes financial banking
2017-04-24 | Tokyo | Rainforest Action Network

Documents

Type:
Year:
ngo documents
2020-11-19 00:00:00

Letter to banks and investors on Indofood labor exploitation

2020-11-19 00:00:00 | Rainforest Action Network
ngo documents
2017-06-30 00:00:00

Forests & Finance dossier: every investor has a responsibility

2017-06-30 00:00:00 | Rainforest Action Network and Profundo
ngo documents
2017-02-02 00:00:00

Indofood Agri Resources: material risks from contested land and labor issues

2017-02-02 00:00:00 | Chain Reaction Research
ngo documents
2017-11-30 00:00:00

Forests & finance briefing

2017-11-30 00:00:00 | RAN, TuK Indonesia, Profundo
ngo documents
2018-04-30 00:00:00

Palm oil sustainability assessment of Salim-related companies in Borneo peat forests

2018-04-30 00:00:00 | Aidenvironment
csr policies
2019-06-18 00:00:00

Labor practices

Date listed represents date as accessed on website
2019-06-18 00:00:00 | Indofood
csr policies
2019-06-18 00:00:00

Environmental policy

Date listed represents date as accessed on website
2019-06-18 00:00:00 | Indofood
other documents
2019-06-18 00:00:00

Complaint OPPUK, RAN, ILRF

2019-06-18 00:00:00 | Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil
annual reports
2019-06-18 00:00:00

Annual report 2018

2019-06-18 00:00:00 | Indofood
ngo documents
2018-12-31 00:00:00

Tycoons in the Indonesian palm oil

2018-12-31 00:00:00 | TuK Indonesia
ngo documents
2018-07-09 00:00:00

Draw The Line

A black book about the shady investments of Dutch Banks into palm oil
2018-07-09 00:00:00 | Milieudefensie
ngo documents
2017-11-30 00:00:00

The human cost of conflict palm oil - revisited

How PepsiCo, Banks and the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil perpetuate Indofood's worker exploitation
2017-11-30 00:00:00 | RAN, OPPUK & International Labor Rights Forum
ngo documents
2016-06-13 00:00:00

The human cost of conflict palm oil

Indofood: pepsico's hidden link to worker exploitation in Indonesia
2016-06-13 00:00:00 | OPPUK, Rainforest Action Network & the International Labor Rights Forum

Links

Indofood's Buyers and Banks Have Nowhere to Hide

Rainforest Action Network campaign page

https://act.ran.org/page/11266/action/1?ea.tracking.id=w_ran&en_og_source=w_ran&_ga=2.2146096.1053327389.1561722336-752280121.1561722336

TuK Indonesia

Indonesian NGO campaigning on human rights and social justice

https://www.tuk.or.id/?lang=en

Indofood Corporate Social Responsibility web page

https://www.indofood.com/page/environmental-stewardship
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