Trade Ministry: CPO Reference Price Increases Due to Indian and Chinese Demand

CPO tanks at the Sei Pagar Palm Oil Plant (PKS) PTPN V, one of the palm oil processing plants in Kampar Regency that obtained the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil certificate from TUV Rheinland. (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Trade (Kemendag) said that the strengthening of the reference price (HR) of the palm oil commodity (CPO) was driven by an increase in demand from India and China.

Director General of Foreign Trade at the Ministry of Trade Tommy Andana said that the HR of CPO commodities for the determination of export duties (BK) and export levies (PE), on March 1-31, 2026 was set at 938.87 US dollars per metric ton (MT). The value strengthened by 2.22 percent or 20.40 US dollars compared to 1-28 February 2026 which was 918.47 US dollars per MT.

"The strengthening of HR CPO is influenced by the increase in demand, especially from major importing countries such as India and China, which is not offset by an increase in supply. Limited supply occurs due to production declines and increases in the prices of other vegetable oils, namely soybean oil," said Tommy in a statement in Jakarta, Saturday as reported by Antara.

Tommy said the determination of the HR CPO was obtained from the average price during the period of January 20-February 19, 2026 on the Indonesian CPO Exchange at US $ 882.76 per MT, the Malaysian CPO Exchange at US $ 994.97 per MT, and the Rotterdam CPO Port Price at US $ 1,252.36 per MT.

Referring to the Regulation of the Minister of Trade (Permendag) Number 35 of 2025, if the average difference of the three price sources exceeds 40 US dollars, the HR CPO uses the average of the two price sources that are the median and closest to the median.

"Therefore, HR is sourced from the Malaysian CPO Exchange and the Indonesian CPO Exchange. Based on this calculation, the CPO HR was set at 938.87 US dollars per MT," said Tommy.

Then, cooking oil (Refined, Bleached, and Deodorized/RBD palm olein) in branded packaging and packaged with a net of ≤ 25 kg is subject to BK 31 US dollars per MT.