Jakarta – The Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI) reported that the export of oleochemicals, a palm oil derivative used to produce personal hygiene and cleaning products, had significantly increased by 24 percent during the first semester 2020.
GAPKI Chairman Joko Supriyono said on Wednesday that the export of crude palm oil (CPO) decreased during the first semester 2020. But due to the outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19), the demand for oleochemicals has been increasing as the palm oil derivative is the raw material to produce hygiene and cleaning products, such as hand sanitizers, soaps and disinfectants, which are among the health products that are required to help prevent the pandemic.
“What’s interesting is that our palm oil exports dropped by 11 percent, but the exports of oleochemicals increased significantly. During January-June 2020 oleochemical exports increased year on year (yoy) by 24 percent,” Joko said on Wednesday during a press conference on the performance of palm oil industry during the first semester 2020.
He said that generally the exports of palm oil during the first semester 2020 dropped by 11 percent due to weakening demand for palm oil.
According to him, the weakening demand was resulted from the implementation of lockdown in a number of main export destinations, including China that saw a decrease of 43 percent, Bangladesh 22 percent, the Middle East 18 percent, Africa 11 percent and European Union (EU) 9 percent.
During the same press conference the Indonesian Oleochemical Producers Association (Apolin) Chairman Rapolo Hutabarat said that the export volume of oleochemicals during January-June 2020 reached 1.8 million tons with a total value of US$1.3 billion.
Rapolo projected that if the oleochemical demand continues to be rising, the total export of oleochemicals by the end of this year will reach 3.7 million tons at total value of US$2.6 billion.
Compared to previous periods, the export of oleochemicals in 2018 was only 2.8 million tons at total value US$2.4 billion. In 2019, the oleochemical export increased to 3.2 million tons, but its total value dropped to US$2 billion.
Meanwhile, domestic consumption of oleochemicals also increased. During the first semester 2020, the domestic consumption of oleochemicals reached 1.6 million tons, or an increase of 38 percent if compared to the consumption during the same period in the previous year at 1.0 million tons.
“Both export and domestic consumption increased during the first six months. Apparently, almost all people across the world are pocketing the sanitizers in their daily activities,” said Rapolo. (*)
Source: TEMPO.CO | featured image thechemicalengineer.com