The Indonesian Palm Oil Association (Gapki) has highlighted the favorable outlook for palm oil amidst the 2024 United States presidential election. Indonesia currently controls 54% of the global market, with export values reaching USD 28.45 billion in 2023. "The prospects remain good. We see that the demand for palm oil in the United States continues to increase, recently approaching 2 million tons," stated Gapki Chairman Eddy Martono yesterday (28/6). Eddy emphasized that major countries, such as the United States, require palm oil, especially for their industrial sectors. "This indicates that large countries also need palm oil commodities, particularly for industry," he explained. Previously, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reported a 27.11% decline in crude palm oil (CPO) exports, followed by a 16.85% drop in coal exports year-on-year (YoY) as of May 2024. Eddy attributed this decline to a temporary dip in CPO demand. "The abundance of other vegetable oil stocks made our palm oil prices less competitive, leading importers to choose more economical options," he noted.

Despite current global challenges, Gapki remains optimistic about achieving the government's target of producing 100 million tons of CPO annually by 2045, in line with the Sawit Emas 2045 program. "To boost exports now, the primary focus should be on making our prices more competitive. To reach 100 million tons by 2045, we need to increase productivity or intensification, as extensification is no longer feasible," he stated. Meanwhile, Director General of Agro Industry at the Ministry of Industry, Putu Juli Ardika, indicated that the palm oil industry ranks first in contributing to the growth of the agro-industrial sector. The downstreaming of the palm oil industry remains a major theme in its development policies. "We have recorded about 179 types of downstream palm oil products, with 90% of export volume consisting of downstream products. Only about 10% of export volume is raw materials like CPO or CPKO," said Putu.

Source: https://timexkupang.fajar.co.id/2024/07/02/permintaan-komoditas-sawit-ke-as-meningkat/