Indonesia's palm kernel shells (PKS) supplier Golden Biomass Energy (GBE) aims to increase its supply capacity for the export market to 1mn t/yr by 2027 from its current capacity of 600,000 t/yr.
The company plans to achieve a supply capacity of 250,000-300,000 t/yr in central Kalimantan and 40,000-50,000 t/yr in eastern Kalimantan by 2027 to export PKS with Green Gold Label (GGL) certification, GBE chief executive Samuel Agus Setiawan told Argus on 28 May. This is in addition to its current capacity of 300,000 t/yr in central Sumatra's Riau province and 300,000 t/yr in southern Sumatra's Jambi province. GBE exported around 300,000t in 2024, mainly to Japan.
GBE's PKS supply capacity may increase further in the future. Golden Agri Resources (GAR), which is the parent company of GBE and a major palm oil firm, has more than 500,000 hectares (ha) of palm plantations and 49 crude palm oil (CPO) mills. GBE could potentially collect 800,000 t/yr of PKS from GAR's CPO mills, and 800,000 t/yr from other CPO mills, Setiawan said.
GBE can also avoid frequent congestion at Dumai port in Riau province by loading PKS at another port in the same province that is owned by GAR.
The company is also planning to increase supply capacity for domestic PKS demand in Indonesia, which is expected to grow as the government is promoting de-fossilisation.
PKS exports from Indonesia totalled approximately 4.8mn t in 2024. Some 4.4mn t was shipped to Japan, while the remainder was mainly exported to Thailand and Singapore.
Some European countries, such as Poland and Portugal, have also occasionally imported PKS. But South Korea has almost stopped importing PKS since the second half of 2023.
