Gapki Calls Stagnant Palm Oil Industry Performance For The Last 4 Years

Chairman of the Indonesian Palm Oil Entrepreneurs Association (Gapki) Joko Supriyono. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Palm Oil Entrepreneurs Association (Gapki) has recorded the performance of the stagnant palm oil industry for the last four years.

"It's been the fourth year that Indonesia has not grown or stagnant, even though domestic needs continue to increase," said Chairman of Gapki Joko Supriyono as quoted by Antara, Wednesday, January 25.

Joko said that the stagnant condition of the palm oil industry can be seen from the decline in production and export value.

It was recorded that the production of CPO or palm oil in 2022 reached 46.28 million tons or lower than 2021 which reached 46.88 million tons.

Likewise, exports in 2022 amounted to 30.8 million tons or lower than 2021 which amounted to 33.76 million tons and was the fourth year in a row, exports fell from year to year.

However, the export value in 2022 reached 39.28 billion US dollars for CPO, processing and derivatives, higher than in 2021 of 35.3 billion US dollars.

"This happens because the price of palm oil products in 2022 is relatively higher than in 2021," said Joko.

The decline in palm oil industry's production and exports, he continued, was caused by 2022 which was colored by unusual incidents, including extreme wet weather that disrupted the activities of pollinating insects, expensive and difficult fertilizers to obtain, to the ban on exports that prevented fruit from being harvested for the next few months due to high stock.

"This year is indeed the most abnormal, hopefully we can manage this so that such turbulent dynamics will not happen again this year, especially exports and production," he said.

However, domestic consumption grew compared to 2021 from the previous 18.42 million tons to 20.97 million tons.

This consumption was dominated by the food industry 9.94 million tons from the previous 8.9 5 million tons, then the autochemical industry rose from 2.13 million tons to 2.19 million tons and biodiesel consumption reached 8.84 million tons in 2022 from the previous 7.34 million tons.

Meanwhile, Gapki estimates that conditions that affect the palm oil industry throughout 2022 are expected to still affect palm oil performance in 2023.

"Production is still not expected to increase, while domestic consumption is expected to increase due to the implementation of B35 Biodesel obligations starting February 1, 20223," said Joko.