KUALA LUMPUR, Sept. 24 -- For Malaysia's palm oil industry, the European Union's new deforestation rules once looked like a wall. Now, companies like FGV Holdings Berhad are trying to turn them into a bridge, with its digital arm FGV Prodata leading the way through a homegrown traceability platform known as FGV TOP, or Traceability of Product.

In an interview, FGV Prodata's head of digital strategy and planning Muhammad Yazid Masol explained why traceability has become central to the group's strategy.

"Europe requires Malaysian palm oil to adhere to EUDR (European Union Deforestation Regulation). FGV, as one of the largest players, needed a system that could trace products from the plantation all the way to the export manifest," he said...