Indonesia issued the ban last month to secure supplies in the face of a domestic shortage.
Jakarta:
Indonesia will lift its ban on palm oil exports next week, President Joko Widodo said on Thursday, easing pressure on the global vegetable oil market after prices surged following the suspension and the war in Ukraine.
The archipelago issued a ban last month to secure supplies of the raw material used in a range of goods from chocolate spread to cosmetics in the face of a domestic shortage.
“Based on the supply… of cooking oil and given that there are 17 million people in the palm oil industry – farmers and other supporting workers – I have decided that cooking oil exports will reopen on Monday, May 23,” he said. Widodo at an online briefing.
“The government will still strictly control everything to ensure that demand is met with affordable prices,” he said.
Authorities had strictly enforced the export ban, with the Indonesian navy earlier this month seizing a tanker carrying palm oil out of the country, in violation of the order.
After the ban went into effect, Widodo said supplying the country’s 270 million residents was his government’s “top priority.”
But Jakarta came under pressure from even more saddled prices that had already skyrocketed after Russia’s invasion of agrarian powerhouse Ukraine.
Palm oil is the most widely used vegetable oil in Indonesia and despite being the largest producer in the world, the country has been struggling for months with a shortage of cooking oil due to poor regulations and producers who are reluctant to sell at home.
The shortages have in some cases forced consumers to queue for hours at distribution centers.
Indonesia produces about 60 percent of the world’s palm oil, a third of which is consumed by the domestic market. India, China, the European Union and Pakistan are among the main export customers.
(This story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
