CoFTRA: West Kalimantan Province Has Great Potential In The National CPO Industry

JAKARTA - The Komodi Futures Trading Supervisory Agency (CoFTRA) assesses that West Kalimantan Province has great potential in the CPO industry and national palm oil, so it was chosen to host the 4th Indonesian CPO Exchange Literacy activity.

"From data from the West Kalimantan Provincial Government, it shows that currently there is an area of 3.4 million hectares of oil palm plantations that already have a Plantation Business License (IUP)," said Acting Head of Bappeli Kasan after opening the 4th Indonesian CPO Exchange Literacy activity in Pontianak, quoted from Antara, Thursday, July 4.

The Central Statistics Agency also stated that West Kalimantan Province occupies the second position as the province with the largest oil palm plantation area in Indonesia, with a land area of 14.9 million hectares in 2022.

Kasan said, in order to achieve the vision of Indonesia Gold 2045, the government is committed to making Indonesia a developed country and one of the five largest economic powers in the world.

One of the important steps towards this goal is to improve the trade sector in a sustainable manner in order to make a significant contribution to the economy.

Although global economic growth in 2024 is expected to stagnate due to tightening monetary policy and geopolitical tensions, Indonesia managed to record a trade balance surplus for 49 consecutive months.

"In May 2024, the trade surplus was recorded at USD 2.93 billion, an increase of 7.7 percent compared to April 2024 which amounted to USD2.72 billion. This success is the result of the collaboration of various parties and the blessings of Allah SWT," he said.

Non-oil and gas exports, particularly from the agricultural and plantation sectors, are one of the main pillars of the trade balance surplus. In May 2024, non-oil and gas exports reached USD4.26 billion, where palm oil (CPO) commodities played an important role.

In managing CPO, CoFTRA has established the Indonesia CPO Exchange which was inaugurated on October 13, 2023. Through transactions on this exchange, it is hoped that a transparent and fair CPO price will be formed which can be used as a reference both in the domestic and international markets.

"Since operating 8 months ago, the Indonesia CPO Exchange has recorded transactions of 17,356 lots or 86,780 tons in the period January to June 2024. However, physical transactions still need to be optimized," said Kasan.

In a further effort to increase market liquidity and trust, the Minister of Trade has appealed to CPO business actors, especially in West Kalimantan, to start transacting on the Indonesia CPO Exchange. The use of prices from the Malaysian Exchange or Rotterdam is expected to be reduced.

In addition, the stock exchange is expected to operate independently, credible, and trusted both in the national and global markets, with the support of valid and up-to-date data and information. CoFTRA will also continue to strengthen supervision and regulations, as well as optimize the function of the CPO Exchange Committee.

In the latest developments, Permendag related to the CPO Export Reference Price (HR CPO) has used the price of the Indonesia CPO Exchange as the largest booster. It is hoped that the future determination of HR CPO will be entirely sourced from the Indonesia CPO Exchange, not from the Malaysian or Rotterdam Exchange.

Prices formed on the Indonesia CPO Exchange are also expected to be a reference in determining the price of upstream products such as Fresh Fruit Marks (FFB) and downstream product reference prices such as biodiesel. The Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources are expected to continue to encourage the use of prices from the Indonesian CPO Exchange in the policy of determining related prices.

Di tempat yang sama, Direktur Utama ICDX, Fajar Wibhayadi, menyatakan bahwa kegiatan literasi ini sejalan dengan program sosialisasi berlanjutan yang dijalankan ICDX terkait implementasi Bursa CPO di Indonesia.

"CPO Bursa is still a new thing in the CPO trading ecosystem in Indonesia. Our task as an exchange is to provide education to stakeholders in the CPO sector throughout Indonesia. We hope that through this socialization, palm oil industry players in Pontianak can understand the benefits of CPO trading transactions through the stock exchange," said Fajar Wibhayadi.

He added, to make transactions, industry players must register their companies as stock exchange members. Recent data shows that 50 palm oil companies have become members of the ICDX CPO Exchange.

The presence of the CPO Exchange is expected to create a transparent, fair, efficient, and regular CPO market, resulting in an accountable and credible price disclosure.

"This reference price can be used as the CPO Indonesia Export Patokan Price (HPE) for the determination of the Export Fee (BK) and Export Levy (PE), the reference price of Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFB) for oil palm farmers, and the reference price for biodiesel incentives," he said.