CPO Production Accumulates, Trade Minister Requested to Expand Export Markets
Netral News (23/11/2018) - JAKARTA, NNC - The academician of the Bogor Agricultural Institute (IPB), Prima Gandhi, said that amid the conditions of falling CPO prices but with very high production, the Ministry of Trade led by Enggartiasto Lukita needs to expand the CPO export market.
This effort is very important to save the fall of domestic palm oil prices, in addition to efforts to reduce export levies and increase competitiveness.
"There is a problem related to the price of palm oil, the Minister of Trade must focus on managing the market and the price because it involves stability and an increase in export volume, as well as the welfare of farmers. Amid the pressure of palm oil prices due to the accumulation of cheap vegetable oil and palm oil stocks which are quite large in the country, there must be a policy breakthrough to expand the export market of this commodity," said Gandhi in Bogor on Thursday (11/22/2018).
Indonesia currently becomes the country that exports the most CPO. Referring to Central Statistics Agency (BPS) data, CPO exports for the January-October 2017 period amounted to 27.66 million tons, while in the January-October 2018 period it rose to 28.16 million tons.
"So don't just take care of imported foods like rice, salt and sugar. Palm oil exports must be a priority job so that national economic growth gets better. This is important considering the contribution of palm oil to the trade balance is very high," he added.
Gandhi revealed Indonesia as the largest palm oil producer in the world succumbing to Malaysia, Thailand, Colombia and Nigeria. The area of Indonesian oil palm plantations is 11.9 million hectares, of which there are 4.7 million ha of community gardens. The productivity of crude palm oil or CPO is 3.2 tons per ha, so in 2016 it produced CPO amounting to 33.2 million tons.
"This provides economic benefits of up to IDR250 trillion and supports 5.8 million farmers with income per household of IDR2 million per month," he added.
It should be noted, the government through the Ministry of Agriculture has developed a palm revitalization program until 2025 with a broad target of 20.1 million ha and productivity of 8.4 tons of CPO will provide an economic value of IDR409 trillion and farmer income of IDR5.3 million per month per household.
The current and ongoing programs include replanting 2.4 million ha, distributing superior seeds, integrating corn-palm oil, developing 20 percent plasma, downstreaming products and encouraging the conversion of oil fuel to biofuel.