PT DSI, strategic commodity governance, and economic sovereignty

By shifting public narrative from business obstacles to economic sovereignty in line with Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution, and exposing data on poor previous governance that marginalises farmers, the government should be able to garner public support. The centralised export policy for Crude Palm Oil (CPO) and coal through a single channel, as implemented by PT Danantara Sumberdaya Indonesia (DSI), has indeed sparked intense public debate. This is understandable given the policy directly impacts the nation’s strategic commodity trade. However, when examined honestly and in-depth through the lens of political economy, commodity governance, and national sovereignty, the policy has a strong objective and rational foundation. First, for palm oil and CPO, for instance, the government aims to end information asymmetry and exploitation by speculative traders against independent farmers. Currently, the market structure for fresh fruit bunches owned by rural farmers tends to be oligopsonistic — a situation where farmers face only a few large buyers, severely weakening their bargaining power. Unscrupulous traders often exploit the lack of direct market access to drive down farmgate prices using artificial justifications. With PT DSI as the single price setter, the state acts as a buffer, establishing a fair minimum price. When the supply chain is pulled upstream by single-channel absorption guarantees, the scope for price-manipulating traders disappears, allowing profit margins to be redirected directly towards improving farmers’ welfare. This strategic commodity protection model is empirically similar to the success of institutions like Chile’s CODELCO, which has effectively safeguarded domestic producers’ income from market predators. Secondly, from a fiscal and foreign exchange governance perspective, export centralisation is a swift and robust structural solution to halt revenue leaks from financial engineering practices. Private corporations have long exploited free trade loopholes to engage in transfer pricing and under-invoicing via shell companies in tax havens, evading domestic tax obligations. With a single export channel controlled by PT DSI, the state gains full control over the volume, quality, and real value of commodities sold to international markets transparently. This ensures all export earnings are fully channelled into the national banking system to bolster foreign reserves and stabilise the Rupiah exchange rate — a target previously unattainable through mere advisory regulations on private exporters. The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) recorded a 32.40% surge in CPO and derivatives exports to $18.14 billion with 17.58 million tonnes from January to September 2025. Conversely, coal exports fell 20.85% to $17.94 billion on 285.23 million tonnes. These figures underscore the critical need for state control via PT DSI to ensure export earnings enter the national banking system and strengthen Indonesia’s bargaining position in global markets.