Rare Cooking Oil Due To Competition For Supply With Biodiesel?

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The scarcity of cooking oil is still happening today. The scarcity of cooking oil in the country is judged not to be caused by a lack of domestic supply of crude palm oil (CPO), but because the supply is divided into the energy sector, namely biodiesel.

Secretary General of the Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI) Eddy Martono admits that the national supply of palm oil is mostly absorbed for biodiesel. This is because the national demand for cooking oil is only around 5.6 million tons.

Based on GAPKI data, the total domestic consumption of CPO in January 2022 reached 1.506 million tons. This amount is dominated by the use for biodiesel of 732 thousand tons. Meanwhile, for food only 591 thousand tons and the remaining 183 thousand tons for oleochemicals.

Meanwhile, in December 2021, the total consumption of CPO in Indonesia was 1,666 million tons. Of the total CPO, 781 million tons are for biodiesel consumption. This amount is higher than food consumption which reached 705 million tons.

GAPKI also noted that consumption of CPO for biodiesel that has exceeded that for food use has occurred since November 2021.

"Oh yes, it's clear (more for biodiesel) indeed, the need for cooking oil is only 5.6 million tons. That can't be done, what do we want to supply 10 million for," he told VOI, Monday, March 14.

However, Eddy explained that the current scarcity of cooking oil is not due to a lack of supply which is shared with biodiesel but because of abnormal conditions.

"So there is no problem. For supply conditions there is no problem, for biodiesel there is no problem, for cooking oil there is no problem. This is just because of abnormal conditions," he said.

Cooking oil problem due to divided supply for Biodiesel

Economist and Director of the Center of Economic Law and Studies (Celios) Bhima Yudhistira said the government does not need to impose a CPO DMO policy of 30 percent to overcome the current cooking oil problem. This is because the current condition is not caused by a lack of domestic CPO supply, but the existing CPO is divided between the need for biodiesel and cooking oil.

"So the problem of domestic supply is the fight for B30 with cooking oil. The root of the problem lies there. The 30 percent DMO policy does not solve the problem," he said.

Therefore, Bhima suggested that CPO be prioritized for cooking oil rather than for fuel or biodiesel.

"So lower the target from B30. So among the dilemmas for energy and food, choose first for food needs. This is the most urgent right now," he explained.