Trade Minister Agus Suparmanto said that the demand for palm kernel shells in Japanese market was stable and had a tendency to increase, despite of the outbreak of Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
The minister said that the Covid-19 pandemic crisis had not reduced the performance of his ministry to increase Indonesian exports to the global market, including the palm kernel shells to Japan.
“Although the Japanese government imposed a condition of emergency due to the outbreak of Covid-19 across Indonesia since 7 April 2020, the trade ministry has been continually pursuing efforts to push up exports, such as the palm kernel shells to Japan which is stable and even has the potential to further increase,” Minister Agus said in a written statement recently.
He cited PT International Green Energy as one of the exporters, which shipped 10,000 metric tons of palm kernel shells through the seaport of Tanjung Buton, Riau province, in April 2020 and arrived in Kochi seaport, Japan, in early May 2020.
The trade ministry’s national export development acting director general Kasan said that the palm kernel shell product was imported by Erex Co Ltd, a Japanese company. Erex Co Ltd signed a contract of palm kernel shell purchase in January 2020 in Japan and it will last for the next 15 years with a total 120,000 metric tons per year.
He said that the agreement was resulted from the trade mission which was facilitated by the trade ministry during the Trade Expo Indonesia (TEI) last year. Besides, PT International Green Energy and Tokyo Sangyo Co. Ltd of Japan had also signed a contract of purchase that will last until 2030. “PT International Green Energy will make its maiden shipment in July 2020. The purchase contract will last until 2030,” Kasan said.
Meanwhile, Indonesia’s trade attaché in Tokyo, Arief Wibisono said that Japan is one of the countries which are increasing the use of renewable energy sources, including the biomass like the palm kernel shells.
Based on data from Japan’s ministry of economy, trade and industry (METI), the power energy need in Japan until 2030 will be fulfilled by coal at 26 percent and renewable energy at 22—24 percent. The renewable energy has seen a significant increase if compared to only 10.3 percent from the total energy mix in Japan in 2016.
Seeing the opportunity, Indonesia’s trade attaché in Tokyo has teamed up with the Indonesia Trade Promotion Center (ITPC) in Osaka, Japan to actively promote the palm oil products and other products derived from palm oil wastes such as the palm kernel shells through a series of virtual campaigns and promotions amid the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic. Previously, they had also launched their promotions through the TEI 2019 and the International Biomass Expo 2020 in Tokyo in February 2020, which managed to interest many potential buyers. “The biomass will be used to generate power in Japan with the scheme of feed – in tariff. Considering the high energy demand that is continually rising in Japan, Indonesia will continually try to increase the export to Japan,” said Arief.
In 2019, the exports of palm oil products and derivative products to Japan reached the total value of US$142.8 million, with an average growth per year at 27.4 percent during the last five years. During the period, Indonesia’s export of palm kernel shells to Japan has seen an increase of 13.6 percent with a total value of US$766,900.
“With the positive export performance, Indonesia’s palm oil products and the biomass product will be more acceptable in the Japanese market. Indonesia should take the market opportunity in Japan and play an important role in the global energy transformation toward the increasing use of the renewable energy sources,” said Agus. (*)
Source: infosawit.com | Featured image via borneonews.co.id