JAKARTA – Economic Coordinating Minister Airlangga Hartarto is confident that the palm oil, which is Indonesia’s top commodity that plays a very significant role in the national economy, will continue to show a robust growth this year despite the lingering outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic across the globe.
“The positive trend will be continuing this year (2021). The reference price of CPO (crude palm oil) in April 2021 had reached a high level at US$1,093.83 per ton. That means, the palm oil export duty was set at around US$116 per ton. It certainly brings positive impact to the state income,” Airlangga said during a webinar on ‘Sustainable Palm Oil Development in Indonesia’, recently.
He noted that Indonesia’s palm oil industry employs more than 16 million workers. Its exports rose by 13.6% to US$22.97 billion in 2020 despite the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic that has affected most of other economic sectors and resulted in minus economic growth in almost all countries.
The Indonesian Palm Oil Association (Gapki) Chairman Joko Supriyono has also expressed optimism recently on the growth of the palm oil industry. He predicted that Indonesia’s exports of palm oil in 2021 will increase by 10.29 percent to 37.5 million tons as compared to that of 2020.
“Actually, the continuing robust growth of palm oil industry will not only contribute to the state income. It will also contribute to the improvement of oil palm smallholders’ welfare as they will keep enjoying higher prices of fresh fruit bunches (FFB),” Airlangga said.
He underlines the government’s commitment to continue the development of palm oil industry based on the principles of sustainability as part of its sustainable national development programs which is stipulated in its medium term development plan 2020-2024. It is implemented by prioritizing the balance of the social, economic and environmental aspects.
“The sustainable development of the palm oil industry will significantly contribute to our sustainable national development as a whole,” he said.
He said that President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has issued a presidential regulation that obliges all oil palm plantation companies and growers to get the certification of Indonesia Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO). The ISPO certification is a guarantee that the palm oil products have been produced by the companies and growers according to the principles of sustainability.
“We hope that all palm oil stakeholders, from the upstream to downstream, will seriously and thoroughly support the implementation of sustainable palm oil development,” he asserted. (*)
Source: KONTAN.CO.ID | Featured image via rocketcdn.me
