Indonesia lifts palm oil export ban from May 23 as domestic cooking oil supply situation improves

Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Thursday announced to lift its palm oil export ban from May 23 as the domestic cooking oil supply situation in the country has improved. Widodo said the decision to lift the ban on plan oil export was taken despite the price of bulk cooking oil having not yet reached the targeted 14,000 rupiah per litre price as the government considers the welfare of 17 million workers in the palm oil industry. Indonesia, the world’s top palm oil exporter, had on 28 April halted the shipments of crude palm oil and some of its derivative products to control rising prices of domestic cooking oil, rattling global vegetable oil markets.

“Average price of (bulk) cooking oil before the export ban in April was 19,800 rupiah per litre and after the ban the average price dropped to around 17,200 to 17,600 rupiah per litre,” he said in a statement. (With agency inputs)