Indonesia will lift its palm oil export ban from Monday

Indonesia will lift its palm oil export ban from Monday
FILE PHOTO – Workers load palm oil fresh fruit bunches to be transported from the collector site to CPO factories in Pekanbaru, Riau province, Indonesia, April 27, 2022. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan

Indonesia will reverse its palm oil export ban from Monday, allowing export shipments for the first time in more than three weeks. The president said the ban would be lifted due to improvements in the domestic supply.

The country initially put the ban in place to combat the rising prices of palm oil because of local shortages. This added to the stress global markets were already dealing with as there is currently also a sunflower oil shortage amid the war in Ukraine, one of the world’s top sunflower oil producers.

The Indonesian government says the reversal comes after domestic stocks have improved. However, angry farmers have recently rallied over losing money since the demand for palm fruits had drastically reduced and the prices of their crops plummeted.

Key comments:

“In several regions I know prices of cooking oil were still relatively high, but I believe in coming weeks they will be more affordable," said Indonesian President Joko Widodo in a video statement.

“Consumers can breathe a sigh of relief now,” said Gnanasekar Thiagarajan, Kaleesuwari Intercontinental’s head of trading and hedging strategies.