JAKARTA – The production of Indonesian palm oil has been recovering. The Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI) reported that palm oil production in August 2020 reached 4.8 million tons or an increase of 2.0% from the production during the same period in 2019 at 4.7 million tons. But year on year (YoY), Indonesia’s total production of palm oil until August 2020 was lower by 6.7% compared to the same period in 2019.
“The production increase was due to season cycle and oil palm recovering as a result of the normal fertilization during the first semester 2020,” GAPKI Executive Director Mukti Sardjono said in a written statement recently.
The local consumption of palm oil for food products and oleochemical products increased during the last two months. Compared to July 2020, the consumption of palm oil for food products in August 2020 surged by around 1.9% to 654,000 tons, while the consumption for oleochemical products increased by 2.0% to 151,000 tons.
“Conversely, the consumption of biodiesel dropped by 9.8% to 576,000 tons, so that totally the local consumption in August 2020 decreased by 3.3% from the local consumption in July 2020,” he said.
Mukti said that cumulatively during January – February 2020 (before Covid-19 pandemic) the local consumption was 16% higher than that of the same period in 2019. The total consumption had been continually decreasing, by 3.0% until June and July 2020 and by 2.5% until August 2020.
“The largest decrease was seen in the consumption for food products, which declined year on year (YoY) as of August 2020 by 14.9%, while the consumption for oleochemical products and biodiesel jumped by 45.3% and 26.9% respectively,” he said.
According to him, the rising trend of production which coincided with the rising trend of price had created an opportunity for Indonesia to increase foreign exchange income from the exports of palm oil products. “Export to China as of August 2020 (YoY) fell by 37% from the same period last year, mainly due to the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic. But now, China has recovered from economic impacts of the Covid-19, creasing a big opportunity for Indonesia to make up for its export decrease to China since last year,” he said. (*)
Source: Sindonews.com | Image via freemalaysiatoday.com
