The Jakarta Post

26 January, 2011

The Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Association (Gapki) called on the government to reduce the export tax imposed on crude palm oil (CPO), which is set to be increased to 25 percent next month.

Gapki chairman Fadhil Hasan said Tuesday that the progressive tax system imposed on CPO exports severely hurt producers because they had to pay higher taxes whenever there was an increase in international palm oil prices.

With market prices surging in recent months, the export tax paid by producers has become unrealistically high, he said, adding that the export tax on CPO, which was only 10 percent in November, had increased sharply to 20 percent in January.

On Tuesday, the Trade Ministry further increased the CPO export tax to 25 percent for February as an adjustment to the January rise in prices. Read the rest of this entry »

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by Yayat Supriatna

Reuter

21 January, 2011

Indonesia will trial voluntary green standards for palm oil producers in February, before rolling out a mandatory scheme in 2012, an agriculture ministry official said on Friday.

Amid pressure from green groups to halt deforestation that speeds up global warming, the agriculture ministry said in April it planned to issue Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) certification to cover the entire operations of planters.

Deputy Agriculture Minister Bayu Krisnamurthi said on Friday the now complete ISPO document would be tested on between ten and 20 companies in February. At the same time, the government will hold a workshop on ISPO to local government, the private sector and NGOs.

At an event marking the 100-year anniversary of palm oil commercialization on March 29 in Medan, North Sumatra, the government will officially launch ISPO.

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which groups planters, green groups and consumers, is the only other major group to have set up green standards for the whole industry.

But unlike RSPO, which does not impose sanctions on members that violate its voluntary standards, those found to be breaking ISPO rules will be punished by law, a ministry official said in November.

Earlier this week, the new secretary general of the RSPO, described the ISPO as “excellent” and said it would complement the RSPO.

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The Jakarta Globe

21 January, 2011

Indonesia may raise its palm oil export tax to 25 percent from 20 percent starting in February after a rally in international prices, industry sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.

The base export price for crude palm oil is likely to be set at $1,194 per ton in February, up from $1,112 per ton in January, a source in the Industry Ministry said on condition of anonymity.

“It isn’t surprising. They always revise up these taxes in order to control the outflow, so the domestic side can keep some for themselves,” a palm oil analyst said.

“Whenever they hike export taxes, you see prices moving up because it constrains supplies.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Albertus Weldison Nonto

Jakarta Globe

29 December, 2010

After years of playing second fiddle to Malaysia, Indonesia has now firmly established itself as the world’s biggest producer of crude palm oil. With production capacity of 19 million tons, this position is unlikely to be challenged going forward.

With international CPO prices stable at $690 per metric ton, this has been a good year for producers. Big guns such as Sinar Mas, Astra Agro Lestari and Sampoerna Agro are in strong positions to increase production, with plans to grow at home and abroad.

Productivity will also improve next year amid rising global demand fueled by India and China. In 2011, Indonesia is expected to export 15 million tons of CPO to the international market, contributing around $15 billion to national export income. Read the rest of this entry »

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The Jakarta Globe

12 December, 2010

Jakarta. Indonesia is poised to have its own Crude Palm Oil (CPO) price quoted at the Indonesian Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (BKDI), a move that may help the country manage its export duties and boost production, a Trade Ministry official has said.

“The necessary preparations to use the price at the exchange as the official CPO reference price have been completed. Now we are only waiting for the issuance of a government regulation to support this policy,” Deputy Trade Minister Mahendra Siregar said on Saturday.

Making the price quoted by the BKDI as the reference price for Indonesian CPO is part of a government policy to restructure the mechanism for determining duties on export goods, he said. Read the rest of this entry »

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The Jakarta Post

3 December, 2010

Indonesia’s crude palm oil (CPO) producers should further diversify their products in order to take advantage of surging demand in the global market, a senior government official has said.

Speaking during an international palm oil gathering in Nusa Dua, Bali Thursday, Deputy Agriculture Minister Bayu Krisnamurthi said global demand for CPO-based products continued to increase from year to year.

He said demand had grown between 7 and 11 percent annually over past years, mainly due to increasing demand in terms of product variety of the commodity.
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The Jakarta Post

16 October, 2010

Two industrial clusters in Riau province that are currently being prepared for the palm oil downstream industry, are expected to begin operation by 2014, enabling the province to become Indonesia’s production hub for processing palm oils.

The master plan, environmental impact assessment (Amdal) and feasibility study for the two industrial clusters, located in Kuala Enok and Dumai, were complete, Riau Governor Rusli Zainal said in Jakarta on Friday.

“If all runs to plan, the clusters will begin operation by 2014,” he said in a discussion at the Finance Ministry.

Kuala Enok and Dumai were nominated as sites for the clusters in accordance with a 2010 industry minister regulation on the development of Indonesia’s downstream palm oil industrial clusters.

“We need to have such downstream industrial clusters to compete with other global palm oil producers,” he said. Indonesia exports most of its palm oil in the form of crude palm oil (CPO). However, compared to other bigger palm oil producers, Indonesia is far behind in terms of processing technology. Read the rest of this entry »

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The Jakarta Post

6 September, 2010

Burger King, the second-largest US hamburger chain, announced Friday that it would no longer buy palm oil from PT Sinar Mas Agro Resources and Technology (SMART), a company accused of destroying rain forests in Indonesia.

Burger King canceled its palm oil purchase contract with SMART after an independent report by Control Union Certification (CUC) and BSI group said that the Jakarta-based company’s plantation activities had negatively affected primary forests and peatlands. With that decision, the Miami-based fast-food chain was now joining Nestle and Unilever that had earlier also suspended their purchase contracts with SMART.

In a statement available on its website, SMART said that it was disappointed with Burger King’s decision, but said that it would continue to engage Burger King to help the fast-food chain understand SMART’s commitment on sustainable production methods. Read the rest of this entry »

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