Indonesia requires palm oil exporters to obtain permits to supply the product. It will ask producers to indicate how much palm they plan to sell domestically. Officials said, they make various attempts to curb the rise in domestic vegetable oil prices and control inflationary pressures.
The world’s largest producer and exporter of palm oil is trying to reduce domestic prices of vegetable oil, which have increased by about 40% year on year.
“Authorities will introduce a single value for vegetable oil sold in the local market and set new rules to avoid the expiration of subsidies,” Trade Minister Muhammad Lutfi told a news conference.
He insisted that the government would not ban the export of vegetable oil. Still, authorities must have a full report on exports to assess shipments within the country.
“Palm oil exporters will have to obtain permits for the shipment of products from the Ministry of Commerce starting Jan. 24,” Indrasari official Vishnu Vardhana said at a press conference.
To issue this document, palm oil companies must report the quantity of goods they ship to domestic buyers and attach the relevant confirmation (sales contract) and their six-month plans for exporting and distributing products within the country.
Vishnu added that producers who have not announced how much palm oil they will supply to the local market in the next six months would not receive export documents.
In turn, the government will not set minimum requirements for domestic shipments.
“The unified pricing policy for vegetable oil is 14,000 rupiahs (0.858 euros) per liter. It will come into effect from Wednesday, “Lutfi said.
According to a number of local online stores, vegetable oil is currently sold in the country at a price of over 21 thousand rupiahs (1.29 euros) per liter.