SOUTHEAST ASIA’S GREEN SUPPLY CHAINS

Yu-Leng Khor, Senior Economist at Segi Enam Advisors, Associate Director (Sustainability) of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs

ESG, sustainability and climate concerns have swept into headlines and the realm of regulators. But for over twenty years, Indonesia and Malaysia supply chains have been under the eye of big NGOs and reputation-wary global brand name companies like Unilever and Procter & Gamble, supplying snackfoods and soaps in grocery aisles. The big El Nino-driven dry spell of 1997/98 coincided with the Asian Financial Crisis and the fall of the Suharto regime in Indonesia, for the start of a recurrent wildfire-on-peat-haze annual phenomenon (increasingly seen elsewhere in the world). Environmental, labour and human rights questions have been met by rising domestic skepticism about trade protectionism, just when the region’s record of containing deforestation and its “green premiums” or profits from stricter (Western) criteria exports have never been better.

Drawing on fifteen years of observations while embedded with value-chains, I shall share my analysis of key drivers and context that informs my forecasting for selected sustainable products from Southeast Asia: the ubiquitous palm oil (claimed to be in half of many supermarket products), natural rubber (used in gloves and tires), and solar panels. Beyond traditional supply-and-demand factors, I will examine how oligopolies, oligarchies, and opinions impact the outlook. The EU has a regulatory push for smallholder-farmer inclusive supplies that are free of deforestation. How are Southeast Asians responding? What do Indonesian tycoons and Thailand’s smallholders have in common? How does market share relate to market reputation? What about US-China trade war issues?

Yu-Leng is a commercial economist focused on tropical agribusiness, commodities, critical minerals and renewable energy. Trained as a political economist at Oxford University and the London School of Economics, she has analysed businesses, industries and markets for over twenty years, having started her career in Southeast Asian banking during the apogee of the “Asian Tigers” era. She has authored reports on sustainability for the WWF and the European Commission. She has also published two studies on Malaysia rural political sentiment and has an upcoming book chapter on #milkteaalliance.

Wednesday, September 13, 2023

12:00 Noon
Room 203, Luce Hall
34 Hillhouse Avenue

(Hybrid event)

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