Indonesia to send CPO mission to China

Adianto.P.Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia will send a trade mission to China next month to boost Indonesian crude palm oil (CPO) exports to the country, an executive of the Indonesian Palm Oil Producers' Association (Gapki) said.

Gapki's chairman Derom Bangun said the trade mission would consist of officials from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Agriculture, Gapki and the Indonesian Cooking Oil Industries' Association (IMMI).

During the visit, the delegation will meet with about 250 Chinese businessmen on Nov. 9 to woo them to buy more CPO from Indonesia.

According to Derom, China, which is one of the world's largest palm oil importers, will raise its palm oil imports to 1.4 million tons this year from 1.1 million tons last year.

"This is a good opportunity to promote our CPO to China and we hope to gain at least 40 percent of the additional palm oil imports," he said.

He said Indonesia had thus accounted for 330,000 tons, or about 30 percent of China's total 1.1 million tons of imports.

Indonesia's CPO production is expected to reach 7.2 million tons this year, compared with 6.5 million tons last year.

Earlier this year, Indonesia and Malaysia, the world's largest palm oil producer, agreed on a joint marketing effort to woo China to boost its palm oil import quota.

India, the world's largest palm oil buyer, bought 2.03 million tons of CPO from Malaysia and 1.6 million tons of CPO from Indonesia last year.