RI crude palm oil exports rose by 35.63% last year

Zakki P. Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia exported 8.66 million tons of crude palm oil last year, or up about a third from the previous year's 6.39 million tons, thanks to better production, according to data from the Central Statistic Agency (BPS) and Gapki.

Last year's exports also far exceeded Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Association (Gapki)'s exports estimation of 7 million tons for 2004.

"Apparently, we have a far better production which has exceeded our expectations," Gapki chairman Derom Bangun told The Jakarta Post.

Derom said last year's climate was very conducive for palm oil production. Moreover, improved infrastructure in Kalimantan and Sumatra, where most oil palm plantations were located, also contributed greatly to the output.

Based on export statistics, he said last year's production reached about 12 million tons, as against the association's projection of 10.8 million tons.

"Overall stability in the country also enabled plantations to pay attention to maintenance, and eventually increase per-hectare productivity," said Derom.

For this year, he expected exports could reach 9.5 million tons, assuming that domestic consumption would remain at some 3.4 million tons per year.

According to BPS data, China and India remains Indonesia's main palm oil markets. Indonesia also exports to Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Netherlands and some new markets such as countries in Eastern Europe.

The data showed Indonesia exported 1.75 million tons of crude palm oil to India and 20,117 tons to China last year.

Meanwhile, palm oil products, including olein, exports to India reached 1.02 million tons and exports to China stood at 1.06 million tons last year.

Derom said that aside from increased production, the rising exports were also attributable to expansion, in terms of volume.

"The BPS data shows that we exported to more than a hundred countries last year," he said.

Indonesia is the world's second largest exporter after Malaysia of palm oil -- a raw material for, among other things, cooking oil, soap and detergent.

Output from the two countries makes up about 85 percent of yearly global palm oil production.