Jakarta urged to strengthen palm oil competitiveness
THE Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Association (GAPKI) has urged the government to help increase the competitiveness of palm oil products, as palm oil remains the country’s most important export commodity, the GAPKI chairman said yesterday an industry conference.
During his opening remarks at the 13th Indonesian Palm Oil Conference and 2018 Price Outlook held in Nusa Dua, Bali, GAPKI chairman Joko Supriyono said the government needed to expand its trade cooperations and enter more export markets.
Currently, the major export destination countries are China, India, Pakistan and Malaysia.
He also said it was important for the government to improve the investment climate by ensuring business certainty.
“In particular, the government needs to continuously review various regulations that could potentially hamper investment,” Joko said.
GAPKI also demanded the government to strengthen its implementation of the Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil certification standard. Only a minority of the 11.9 million hectares of oil palm plantations are ISPO certified at present.
Indonesia is the world's largest producer and exporter of palm oil, while palm oil and derivative products are the largest contributor to the country's export revenue. GAPKI estimated that palm oil production would reach 36.5 million tonnes by the end of 2017, while exports of palm oil and refined palm oil products would reach 30 million tonnes.