Which certificate does a Japanese buyer need on palm kernel shell?

Third-party sustainability certification has been mandatory under FIT and FIP since 1 April 2024; GGL, RSB and ISCC are accepted, and the Green Gold Label is what the market actually uses. The seller's own chain-of-custody link, mill and trader, has to be in place before a buyer can book the cargo.

What specification do Japanese plants buy against?

The market standard is total moisture 20 percent maximum, net calorific value 3,500 kcal/kg minimum as received, ash 4 percent maximum, chlorine 700 ppm and sulphur 0.15 percent maximum, foreign matter 1 percent maximum, in cargoes of 8,000 tonnes and up. Mill-gate shell needs drying and screening to reach it.

Do buyers take FOB or CIF?

Both. Trading houses commonly buy FOB Malaysia or Indonesia and fix the ship themselves; power producers more often buy delivered. We ask every buyer which, because it decides who charters the Handysize or Supramax.

Can CBIL also fix the ship?

Yes. Our chartering desk, LaycanDesk, prices geared Handysize and Supramax tonnage from the Malaysian ports and the Sumatra anchorages to Japanese plants, and holds owners' positions on that lane.

North Asia · Japan

Palm Kernel Shell Buyers in Japan

The market for certified palm kernel shell - 4.0 million tonnes a year, all of it under a sustainability certificate

Japan imported 4.0 million tonnes of palm kernel shell in 2025 (UN Comtrade, HS 1404.90), 74 percent from Indonesia and 22 percent from Malaysia; Malaysia declared 1.68 million tonnes of exports, 77 percent of them to Japan, at about USD 94 a tonne FOB. The buyers are the biomass power producers under Japan's FIT and FIP schemes and the trading houses that supply them; a single month reached a record 670,000 tonnes in March 2025. Since 1 April 2024 METI has required third-party certification (GGL, RSB or ISCC) on every tonne of shell booked under FIT, and in practice the market runs on the Green Gold Label: the Japanese register lists some forty power companies and sixty traders holding it, and a seller without its own chain-of-custody link cannot be bought.

CBIL brokers certified shell from Malaysian and Sumatran producers and aggregators: mill-dried and screened material loaded alongside at Kuantan, Port Klang, Pasir Gudang and the Sabah and Sarawak ports, or by barge at the Sumatra river anchorages, in 8,000 to 35,000 tonne lots. We work to the specification Japanese buyers use - total moisture 20 percent maximum, net calorific value 3,500 kcal/kg minimum as received, ash 4 percent maximum, foreign matter 1 percent maximum - and we ask every seller for its certificate scope and its loading rate before a buyer hears of it. A Japanese buyer tells us the plant, the monthly tonnage, FOB or CIF and the next buying window; a seller tells us the port, the certificate and the tonnage open. Our chartering desk fixes the Handysize or Supramax between them.

Need the ship as well? Our chartering desk prices palm kernel shell freight Malaysia and Sumatra to Japan on LaycanDesk.

The market in figures

Japan imports, 2025: 4.0 million t (Indonesia 74%, Malaysia 22%)
Record month: 670,000 t in March 2025
Malaysia exports, 2025: 1.68 million t, 77% to Japan, about USD 94/t FOB
Certification: Mandatory under FIT/FIP since 1 April 2024: GGL, RSB or ISCC
Buyer specification: Moisture ≤20%, NCV ≥3,500 kcal/kg ar, ash ≤4%, foreign matter ≤1%, min cargo 8,000 t

Official trade data; sources listed below. Landed values are the importing country's declared CIF, not CBIL prices.

Questions buyers ask

Which certificate does a Japanese buyer need on palm kernel shell?: Third-party sustainability certification has been mandatory under FIT and FIP since 1 April 2024; GGL, RSB and ISCC are accepted, and the Green Gold Label is what the market actually uses. The seller's own chain-of-custody link, mill and trader, has to be in place before a buyer can book the cargo.
What specification do Japanese plants buy against?: The market standard is total moisture 20 percent maximum, net calorific value 3,500 kcal/kg minimum as received, ash 4 percent maximum, chlorine 700 ppm and sulphur 0.15 percent maximum, foreign matter 1 percent maximum, in cargoes of 8,000 tonnes and up. Mill-gate shell needs drying and screening to reach it.
Do buyers take FOB or CIF?: Both. Trading houses commonly buy FOB Malaysia or Indonesia and fix the ship themselves; power producers more often buy delivered. We ask every buyer which, because it decides who charters the Handysize or Supramax.
Can CBIL also fix the ship?: Yes. Our chartering desk, LaycanDesk, prices geared Handysize and Supramax tonnage from the Malaysian ports and the Sumatra anchorages to Japanese plants, and holds owners' positions on that lane.

Sources

UN Comtrade, HS 1404.90, reporter Japan (392) 2025: 4,004,593 t; partners Indonesia 74%, Malaysia 22%. Reporter Malaysia (458) 2025: 1,680,718 t, Japan 1,295,632 t (77.1%), USD 94/t implied FOB. Queried 13 Sep 2026.
Argus Media, 'Japan's palm kernel shell imports hit high in March' (2025): 670,000 t in March 2025.
Argus Media, 'Japan adds new biomass fuels, certificates to FiP, FiT' and 'Japan unlikely to change PKS certificate deadline' (2023): certification mandatory from 1 April 2024; GGL, RSB, ISCC accepted.
Green Gold Label public register, export dated 15 July 2026, read 14 Sep 2026: Japanese holders with agricultural-residue scope.
Argus Biomass Markets methodology (September 2026), Asian palm kernel shell specification, fob Sumatra / peninsular Malaysia to Japan FIT.