JAKARTA — Vice chairman of the House of Regional Representatives (DPD), Sultan B. Najamudin has asked the government not to follow the policy of the Malaysian government which threatened to stop CPO exports to the European region.
The former Deputy Governor of Bengkulu said that such a step is needed to ensure that the price of fresh fruit bunches will not decrease and harm smallholders. On the other hand, the European Union (EU) policy will be utilized by other potential CPO producing countries to take over the European market.
“I don’t think the government needs to make trade decisions that are actually detrimental to Indonesia’s position as the number one producer of palm oil and CPO in the world today, unless we have found other potential export markets in other regions of the world,” said Sultan in an official statement recently.
According to him, even though CPO is widely used by consumers for various needs, the role of CPO can still be substituted by other vegetable oils sourced from plants other than palm oil. So to maintain the reputation of CPO as the most popular vegetable oil today is by accepting the production standards required by Europe.
“The new European law is actually good for the government to show commitment and responsibility for protecting the forest environment. In this way, the extensification of palm oil corporations can be controlled and the smallholders’ oil palm plantations can be specially appreciated by Europe,” said the former young senator who is concerned with environmental issues.
On the other hand, said Sultan, oil palm plantations belonging to the smallholders are considered capable of meeting the requirements set by Europe. The government is expected to be able to take advantage of this opportunity by limiting CPO exports to Europe and increasing the portion of CPO use in the biodiesel mandatory policy.
“Because until 2020, only around 2.90 million hectares of oil palm plantations which are located in forest areas and without forestry permits or not yet legally identified. Meanwhile the total area of oil palm plantations is 16.38 million ha, of which 6.94 million ha is owned by smallholders,” he said.
It means that there are only around 17 to 20 percent of our total oil palm acreage that has the potential not to meet the requirements set by Europe.
Previously, Malaysia threatened to stop CPO exports to the European Union (EU) as a form of protest against the region’s discrimination against CPO commodities.
The new EU law (UU) will strictly regulate the buying/selling of CPO in an effort to protect forests.
Both Indonesia and Malaysia supply 85% of the world’s CPO. The policies of the two countries in the CPO sector will greatly determine the price of CPO in the global market. (*)
Source: dpd.go.id
