Trade Minister Budi Calls Implementation B50 Not Disturbing CPO Export Performance
Minister of Trade (Mendag) Budi Santoso said the 50 percent or B50 biodiesel implementation policy would not interfere with the export performance of crude palm oil (CPO).
Budi said that his party had not received any complaints regarding the decline in CPO exports. According to him, Indonesia's CPO exports are still running according to market demand.
"Not yet. Exports go down like that, right, there is a quota. Until now, it hasn't, because we also often communicate with business actors," he said in Jakarta, Friday, November 21.
Furthermore, Budi also ensured that Indonesia's CPO export performance was still stable ahead of the B50 implementation. He said exports were still running according to market demand.
"Our CPO export continues to increase," he said.
For your information, the government plans to implement mandatory B50 or diesel fuel with a mixture of 50 percent of vegetable ingredients (fatty acid methyl ester/FAME) sourced from CPO to stop diesel imports starting in 2026. The B50 policy is expected to increase the need for CPO in the country.
Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Bahlil Lahadalia ensured that the implementation of the 50 percent biodiesel mandatory program or B50 (B50) or diesel fuel mixture with 50 percent palm oil would not make cooking oil scarce.
Bahlil explained that the B50 program will only reduce the number of exports of crude palm oil (CPO).
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"Nothing, there is no such issue. This is the problem if we use B50, it's just our exports that we reduce to meet domestic needs," Bahlil told the media crew on the sidelines of Sarasehan 100 Indonesian economists, Tuesday, October 28.
According to him, the supply of CPO for cooking oil will still be met, while what is reduced is only the amount of CPO exports because they will be used to meet domestic needs.
Despite the reduction in the number of exports, Bahlil also said that the government would still prepare policies to adjust domestic and foreign needs. One of the rules studied is the application of Domestic Market Obligation (DMO) for palm oil.
"We will see that it is an alternative," he said.