Indonesia to revoke palm export ban from 23 May

Jakarta will allow exports of palm oil from 23 May, according to an announcement from Indonesia's president Joko Widodo on 19 May.

Whether exports of waste-based biofuel feedstocks used cooking oil and affected palm oil mill effluent HS codes will also be allowed to resume from Monday was not immediately clear.

The palm oil export ban will be lifted, despite Indonesian bulk cooking oil prices not having dropped below 14,000 rupiah/litre ($1/l) as intended, to alleviate pressure on the country's 17mn palm industry workers as domestic oil supply had already exceeded demand, Widodo said.

The government has been under pressure from palm oil lobby groups within the country to reverse the ban since it was implemented on 28 April, because of concerns surrounding domestic palm oil storage capacity limits, export revenue losses, and the impacts of currency deflation.

By Lauren Moffitt