Fulfilling Domestic And Export Needs, The Downstreaming Program For Palm Products And Its Derivatives CONTINUES To Be Strengthened

JAKARTA - The government through the Ministry of Trade (Kemendag) is making various efforts to strengthen the downstream program of palm products and their derivatives to meet domestic and export needs.

The Director General of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Trade, Budi Santoso, said the policy was an effort to anticipate the slowdown in global economic recovery as a result of the threat of recession, geopolitical tensions in Eastern Europe, extreme weather due to climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic that has not ended.

"The Indonesian government continues to strive to support the sustainable recovery and development of the national economy by seeking to empower the domestic economy, strengthen local products and encourage the Proudly Made in Indonesia program, as well as downstream industries based on Natural Resources (SDA) to meet domestic and export needs, one of which is palm oil products and their derivatives," he said in a written statement quoted by Antara, Friday, December 16.

The Ministry of Trade, he continued, has issued a policy that supports this through the Regulation of the Minister of Trade (Permendag) Number 49 of 2022 and the Minister of Trade Regulation Number 50 of 2022 for flexibility and convenience for business actors.

Then, optimize the provision of cooking oil at affordable prices for consumers from raw material supplies whose prices are profitable for planters.

In addition, Budi Santoso added, pararelously encouraging national economic growth through export activities of palm oil products and their derivatives.

Meanwhile, the Chief of Presidential Staff of the Republic of Indonesia, General TNI (Ret.) Moeldoko, added that the palm oil industry faces various difficulties and obstacles to competition with other vegetable oil industries abroad.

"However, this challenge is expected to make the palm oil industry stronger and more resilient. For that, let's use every challenge as our driver in our work," he said.