SPKS Highlights DSI Margin Clause, Fears It Will Burden Palm Oil Farmers

The Palm Oil Farmers Union (SPKS) has highlighted the provisions of Chapter III, Article 3, paragraph (4) of Government Regulation Number 24 of 2026 concerning Governance of Strategic Natural Resource Commodity Exports. The clause states that the State-Owned Enterprise (BUMN) for Export, in implementing the export of strategic natural resource commodities, may determine a margin at a reasonable level in accordance with statutory provisions.

SPKS General Chairperson Sabarudin urged the government to ensure that the appointed BUMN for Export in the single-door palm oil export scheme, namely Danantara Sumberdaya Indonesia (DSI), does not take a margin that could ultimately be passed on to palm oil farmers through a reduction in fresh fruit bunch (FFB) prices.

“If DSI takes a margin, we are concerned that the cost will ultimately be borne by farmers through lower FFB prices. That must be prevented from the outset,” Sabarudin told reporters on Friday, 19 June 2026.

According to SPKS, palm oil farmers support the government’s efforts to improve export governance, enhance upstream governance to partner farmers with companies, and strengthen Indonesia’s position in strategic commodity trade. However, governance improvements must not create new costs that ultimately reduce farmers’ incomes.

SPKS cautioned that experience has shown various costs in the palm oil trade chain are often passed down to the farm level. One example is the export levy, which for years has been part of the palm oil industry’s cost structure and has influenced the prices received by farmers, with price reductions due to export levies reaching Rp500 to Rp1,000 per kilogram.

According to SPKS, the experience of the export levy policy managed by the Plantation Fund Management Agency (BPDP) serves as an important lesson that any additional cost in the trade chain has the potential to reduce the FFB price received by farmers.

“Farmers have long borne various costs in the palm oil trade chain. New margins must not further reduce the prices received by farmers,” said Sabarudin.

This concern arises amid FFB prices that have not yet fully recovered. Following President Prabowo’s announcement of the single-door export policy, FFB prices in various palm oil centres temporarily fell by up to Rp1,000 per kilogram, even though global crude palm oil (CPO) prices were on an upward trend.