APP new mill, WWF has serious doubts about adequate fiber supply.

An article published on Bisnis Indonesia daily, report APP plans to increase the production capacity of its new OKI pulp mill in South Sumatra from 2 millions tons to 2.8 millions. "We are not convinced that the raw material supply for the OKI mill will be sufficient". commented Aditya Bayunanda, of WWF-Indonesia to foresthints.news. "Even before it was announced that the annual production capacity of the new APP mill would be increased, we already had serious doubts as to whether there would be an adequate fiber supply. Our doubts are greater than ever now that APP plans to increase the mill’s production capacity" "They always claim that if indeed the supply turns out to be inadequate, they will make up the shortfall through imports. However, importing acacia is not that simple. It’s not as if there is a ready stock stashed away somewhere. It’s not easy to import acacia, especially in large quantities," added Aditya.
APP claimed that an independent study confirmed that the group has sufficient plantation resource to meet the pulp requirements of its existing mills as well as its future mill in OKI, South Sumatra. However, the study has never been made public, and the Rainforest Alliance, which was responsible for auditing it, noted that “a definitive answer of whether APP has enough plantation wood supply based on estimates from data gathered and analyzed 1.5 years ago is not possible”. The auditor added that the study only confined its scope for the period to 2020, giving no information about the future wood supply.
Recently, a coalition of Indonesian NGOs from South Sumatra released a report revealing that 26% of APP’s total planted area in the province has been lot in the forest fires in the province only.