JAKARTA – Economic Coordinating Minister Airlangga Hartarto said that all palm oil stakeholders have played an important role in sustaining the national economy and the local economies where they operate during the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia.
He asserted that as many economic sectors saw a negative growth, the palm oil industry has managed to maintain its positive growth during the pandemic. Besides keeping its significant contribution of state income and foreign exchange, the palm oil industry has also contributed to the creation of job opportunities directly and indirectly.
“The palm oil sector has managed to maintain its total workforce intact at 16.2 million people without any layoffs despite the outbreak of the pandemic during the last two years,” Minister Airlangga told the participants of the 17th Indonesian Palm Oil Conference and 2022 Price Outlook, early this month.
Airlangga added that the administration of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) is envisioning that Indonesia will become the world’s largest producer of palm oil-based products by further developing its downstream palm oil industries.
According to him, considering its current condition of palm oil industry, Indonesia is able to maintain itself as the world’s largest producer of crude palm oil (CPO) and continue downstream development programs to make Indonesia as the world’s leading producer and exporter of various downstream products from palm oil. “It is mainly because Indonesia has 10% of the total acreage of global vegetable oils,” he said.
“The palm oil industry contributed 15.6 percent of the total exports of Indonesia in 2020. It is also one of the largest contributors of foreign exchange and its contribution has been consistently rising every year despite the pandemic,” said Airlangga.
Based on data from the economic coordinating ministry, in 2019 Indonesia had a total acreage of oil palm plantations at 16.38 million hectares, consisting of 41 percent owned by smallholders, 6.0 percent owned by state plantation companies, and 53 percent by private palm oil companies.
Airlangga said that the government is implementing a replanting program as a crucial program to increase the productivity and sustainability of smallholders, and also to improve public welfare of smallholders.
During the same occasion, the Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI) Chairman Joko Supriyono expressed his optimism that the palm oil industry will keep its positive performance and its significant contribution to the national economy, especially for a sustained recovery of the national economy.
“We’re confident that next year the palm oil industry will stay the big contributor to Indonesia’s trade balance,” said Joko.
He said that the demand for palm oil will continue to increase, particularly when the energy crisis is impacting a number of countries, including China and the United Kingdom.
“The energy crisis in a number of countries has opened an opportunity for the renewable energy sources, such as the palm oil-based biodiesel, as a sustained alternative solution to the energy problems,” Joko said. (*)
Source: KONTAN.CO.ID
