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The
world's top palm oil exporter has since April 28 halted
shipments of crude palm oil (CPO) and some derivative products
to try to tame soaring prices of domestic cooking oil.
The decision comes despite bulk cooking oil having not yet
receded to the targeted 14,000 rupiah per litre price, as the
government considers the welfare of 17 million workers in the
palm oil industry, the president said in a video statement.
Jokowi, as the president is known, said the supply of bulk
cooking oil has now reached a level greater than what the
domestic market needed.
"Average price of (bulk) cooking oil before the export ban in
April was 19,800 rupiah per litre and after the ban the average
price dropped to around 17,200 to 17,600 rupiah per litre," he
said.
Indonesia came up with the ban on exports of the widely used
vegetable oil as a means of controlling domestic prices, but
pressures have been mounting for it to be eased as farmers
protested that there were no demand for their palm fruits.
The ban has rattled global vegetable oil markets that were
already struggling after the war in Ukraine removed a big chunk
of sunflower oil supply.
Palm oil makes up more than a third of the world's vegetable oil
market, with Indonesia accounting for about 60% of palm oil
supply.
(Additional reporting by Stanley Widianto, Stefanno Sulaiman,
Zahra Matarani; Editing by Martin Petty and Ed Davies)
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