Unilever to buy palm oil from green certified mills

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Unilever will continue to buy palm oil from Malaysian planter IOI Corp's green certified mills, a senior official said on Thursday, after an industry body censured the firm for social and environmental damage.

"IOI can still trade the oil from mills certified in the past," Jan-Kees Vis, global director of sustainable sourcing development at the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant, told Reuters.

"Current certifications are being suspended," added Vis, who is also chairman of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a grouping of planters, NGOs and consumers tasked with issuing certification to planters who commit to preserving the environment and working with local communities.

RSPO this week criticised IOI for draining peatlands, felling forests and grabbing land from local communities to expand and warned that it could face further sanctions.

Based on RSPO data, IOI has four green certified mills. Another three have been audited and the remaining five mills were scheduled to be audited by the end of this year.

Vis declined to say how much palm oil Unilever sourced from IOI.

(Reporting by Niluksi Koswanage; Editing by Ramthan Hussain)