PALANGKA RAYA – Central Kalimantan (Kalteng) is one of the largest palm oil producing provinces in Indonesia. Based on data from the Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI), Central Kalimantan province ranks the third in terms of palm oil production.
“Kalteng ranks the third largest province in Indonesia in terms of palm oil production, after North Sumatera province and Riau province,” GAPKI Chairman Eddy Martono said after attending GAPKI Kalteng Branch 5th Conference 2023 in Swiss-Bellhotel Danum, Palangka Raya, on Thursday, 15 June 2023.
But all of the province’s palm oil production is still sold unprocessed, as it has no downstream palm oil industry and has to rely on other provinces for further processing of the palm oil.
Eddy said that nationally, Indonesia’s palm oil exports have been dominated by processed products. “Especially during the last four years, Indonesia’s exports of palm oil products have been dominated by downstream products. Our export of unprocessed CPO is now only at 3 million tons of our total palm oil exports of 36 million tons. It means the other 33 million tons are exported as processed products,” said Eddy.
He said that the processed palm oil products are mostly from Java island. Other regions outside Java have to rely on the downstream palm oil industries in Java for processing the CPO into a variety of downstream products.
“We have to admit that our downstream industries are still centered in Java. This is a challenge for us to expand the downstream development outside Java,” he said.
According to Eddy, the development of downstream palm oil industries outside of Java is still hindered by poor infrastructure. “Poor infrastructure has hindered the development of downstream palm oil industries in regions outside of Java, like North Sumatera, Riau, and Kalteng,” he said.
He said that the poor infrastructure outside Java has pushed President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) to accelerate the infrastructure development outside Java that will then allow the development of downstream palm oil industries outside Java. “President has recently focused on accelerating development in regions outside Java island, such as in IKN, the new capital city in East Kalimantan, and other regions,” said Eddy.
Meanwhile, Kalteng Deputy Governor H Edy Pratowo acknowledged that the province’s palm oil industries are not yet fully developed as it has no downstream industry to process the palm oil. “Until now, we only sell the palm oil unprocessed. Looking forward, we need to adjust to the presidential policy on the down-streaming of the industry. We should process the CPO to produce various derivative products of palm oil, such as soap and food products. It will generate our local economy, while creating new job opportunities. To realize it we need collaborations with investors and other stakeholders,” the deputy governor told the press. (*)
Source: kaltengonline.com
