JAKARTA – The Indonesian government has finally decided to reopen the exports of crude palm oil (CPO) and cooking oil, which had been previously banned to ensure the availability of supply at the local market.

The government said that the decision was based on the results of field monitoring and reports from related ministries regarding the availability of supply and market price. “We decide to reopen the exports of CPO and cooking oil on Monday, 23 May 2022,” President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said in the state secretariat channel of YouTube on Thursday.

He said that after imposing the export ban, the supply of cooking oil and CPO at the local market has been continually rising. “The export ban is part of our  steps to ensure the availability of CPO and cooking oil supply at the local market,” he said.

The lifting of export ban is also based on the fact that a total of 17 million people rely directly and indirectly on the palm oil industry across the country.

Indonesia needs around 194,000 tons of bulk cooking oil per month. Before the export ban in March 2022, the supply of cooking oil at the local market was only 64,500 tons.

“But after we impose the export ban, our supply in April reached 211,000 tons per month, which exceeded the monthly national need,” he said.

Besides the availability of supply, President Jokowi also mentioned the decrease of average price of cooking oil. Before the export ban, the national average price of bulk cooking oil reached around Rp19,800 per liter.

But after imposing the export ban, the national average price declined to a range of Rp 17,200 and Rp 17,600 per liter.

Jokowi is confident that in the next few weeks the price of cooking oil will be affordable until finally reaching the retail price ceiling (HET) set at Rp 14,000 per liter.

“But despite lifting the export ban, we’ll keep monitoring the local market to ensure the availability of its supply at affordable price,” he said. (*)

Source: Bisnis.com/Kontan.co.id