Coordinating Minister Luhut Calls TBS Sawit Price Falls Because Ukraine Opens Sun Flower Exports, Member Of Commission VI DPR: Don't Look For Black Kambing

Jakarta - Member of Commission VI of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Deddy Yevri Sitorus questioned the statement by Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan which said the price of palm oil had fallen because Ukraine opened the faucet for exports of solar oil or sunscreen. He also asked the government not to look for reasons in response to the drop in the price of fresh fruit bunches (FFB) at the farmer level.

This member of the PDI-P faction also asked Luhut Panjaitan not to throw away his body regarding the drop in the price of FFB palm oil and crude palm oil (CPO).

"If Mr. Luhut said that it was because Ukraine opened an export tap for solar flower (sunflower) and cut export taxes, it was called body disposal and irresponsible," he said in Jakarta, Friday, July 8.

According to Deddy, the drop in the price of palm oil TBS for farmers was caused by the damage to supply chains related to the export moratorium, the time-consuming export licensing mechanism (PE), the chaotic distribution of cooking oil, to the high burden of export levies and flusing out.

Furthermore, Deddy assessed that the chaos that was the culprit in the price of TBS for farmers was destroyed under reasonable circumstances.

"So don't look for scapegoats for Ukraine. Because the economic prices of TBS and CPO collapsed because the tank capacity was overloaded so it couldn't accommodate TBS and the CPO cycle couldn't run normally," he said.

Deddy assessed that the management of CPO and cooking oil under Luhut Panjaitan had failed miserably. This is because exports are stuck and detrimental to the state, the company is being harmed because the quality of CPO is decreasing and small farmers are screaming because of the price that is falling free.

In fact, continued Deddy, when global demand decreased by almost 30 percent, the prices of TBS and CPO continued to fall below the economic price. "Why? Because the supply chain of these commodities stagnant," he said.

This condition, said Deddy, is pushing the global market to find a way out to meet their need for vegetable oil. According to Deddy, it was obtained from the start of the flow of vegetable oil other than palm oil in the world, one of which was solar flower oil from Ukraine.

"So the problem is in the management of the palm oil industry in Indonesia, which is chaotic, not solely due to global influence," he explained.

Therefore, according to Deddy, the solution is to improve the chain of oil palm products where domestic supply guarantees are maintained both volume and price. "It's time for the DMO and DPO policies to be evaluated, excessive levies are reduced, national distribution and reserves are well controlled," he said.

FFB Anjlok Palm Oil Influences Ukrainian Sunflower Oil Exports

Previously reported, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Bisar Pandjaitan said that currently the price of TBS oil head is indeed experiencing pressure. The current condition is exacerbated by the steps of countries that have started to reopen exports of solar or flower oil. One of them is Ukraine.

Luhut said, Ukraine has also reduced export taxes for these commodities. This step by Ukraine puts pressure on global kalapa palm oil, including to Indonesia. Although many exports have been carried out, the selling price of palm palm FFB has fallen.

"It's not easy to increase the price of FFB so far, the price of oil in Ukraine, the Sunflower oil has not been exported for a long time, how many months? 4-5 months, right. Now he has taken down taxes, he has brought export influence to others," he said when met at the Sahid Hotel. Jakarta, Thursday, July 7th.

Luhut said that he had also explained to farmers who were connected to the Indonesian Palm Oil Farmers Association (Apkasindo) on Tuesday, July 5 at the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment.

Furthermore, Luhut said he could not predict whether the price of palm FFB would increase in the near future. Even so, Luhut explained that the government would make various efforts to boost the price of FFB.

But again, said Luhut, global economic conditions are also affecting. In particular, Ukraine's move to start selling solar oil again at a cheaper price.

"I can't talk right now, we have to see Ukraine. He's a big sunflower reserve, isn't it exported... We understand that. We just don't know, nothing can be predicted so far," he said.