Oil crunch: Indonesia introduces palm oil export ban | DW News 

European : palm oil is bad for environment. We should ban palm oil Indonesia : suspens palm oil export European : that's not fair

I'm from a southern Indian state called Kerala. We produce tons of coconut oil and coconut oil is the staple oil we use here for everything. It used to be cheap. But from past couple of decades they export most of the high quality coconut oil and we locals have to pay the same amount they pay in other states and we get the worst quality in return. Our government does not have the balls or brains to even notice this as they are mostly uneducated old dudes. Kudos to Indonesia.

Good for Indonesia to protect the supply for it's own people.

indonesia : top 4 LNG exporter top 3 coal exporter biggest nickle exporter biggest palm oil exporter many people failed to understand how important indonesia is.. they can cause energy crisis&hyperinflation around the world

Actually behind the scenes CPO companies in Indonesia are controlled by entrepreneurs from neighboring countries. When world CPO prices went up, they had neglected their obligation to meet the national quota in Indonesia so we had a big problem with the loss of all palm cooking oil from the local market. Absolutely no cooking oil for several months. Even when the world CPO price rises, they still take the price of harvested palm oil at a low price. Our farmers are not enjoying the increase in world CPO prices. Then finally it was found that there was corruption in export licensing where CPO entrepreneurs obtained export permits without fulfilling the national quota of 20% for Indonesia. This hurts all Indonesian people and even demands that the CPO companies be taken over by the government. These resources are from our land but they take all without giving to the Indonesian. As a punishment, President Joko Widodo prohibits CPO entrepreneurs from exporting until they meet Indonesia's national needs first. This penalty is lower than revoking their business license and the state taking over their company as our people’s demand. So as long as CPO entrepreneurs fulfill their obligations to the state, exports will return to normal.

Actually we in Malaysia also experiencing the same like Indonesia. The shelves for cooking oil is almost everytimes empty. I'm not surprise if soon the Malaysian government will follow exactly like the Indonesian gov too.

In the past, the western world banned Indonesian palm oil for environmental reasons. but now, they are begging to Indonesia to ask for palm oil from Indonesia. in fact, palm oil is much more efficient than any vegetable oil around the world

The issue is far more complex than what is presented here. It involves cartel and bribery.

Palm oil not only just for cook . But also for cosmetic , industrial food etc

Dear EU No need to ban our palm oil anymore We happily ban ourself Good luck Regards Indonesia

As an Indonesian I kinda support this decision, I remember the time when shops, supermarkets is basically just empty on palm oil while those oil do come back to the shelves the price has inflated so much to the point that it's basically just too much

This is the full story. Before Indonesia ban export for cooking oil, Indonesian government only implies "domestic market obligation (dmo)". It force company to sell 20% of their output to sell to Indonesian market. But they ignore it, many company decide to bribe some official and sell all of their output to international market because more profit. Because of that, palm oil in Indonesia rise almost double and government do their job and force all company to sell to Indonesian market to stabilise the price.

Its good for us Indonesian people to localize palm oil use. But not good for all businessman involve around the world. Soap,shampoo,sunscreen,cosmetic cream,snacks are using palm oil.

EU who banned oils palm should be happy with this decision. but they pay a heavy consequences from vegetable oils price skyrocketing.

Good for Indonesia 🇮🇩

This is to protect local consumer because lately cooking oil price in indonesia skyrocketing and poor people cannot afford to buy

“Fish and chips are British national product”…. Really? FYI the cod comes from Iceland, potatoes from Belgium and the cooking oil from Indonesia… very national product indeed!😂😂😂

Although I will miss the palm oil in my peanut butter, I applaud the Indonesian government for thinking about their normal citizens instead of just the rich ones. Unlike the U.S., where I live, which has the reverse priority.

Its amazing to read comments that from people that lives in a country with small to no forest, talk about deforestation

palm oil is in almost everything its not just about fish and chips.....

Thanks Indonesia for this....This is helping us, Indian peanut farms to get 30 to 35% higher price! Farmers all across the world will get better price for oil seeds...... Also, Indonesia can consider nationalising their palm oil industry and only export the excess quota to foreign countries.

I thought Europe is banning the import of palm oil, especially from Indonesia

Demi Indonesia yang Lebih Baik 🔥

I remember when most western country against palm oil. and now when Indonesia government ban its export completely, many westerners are anxious. Where all the confidence gone? At the end, we still dependant on palm oil.

Congratulations indonesia for being super brave. After all the unfair treatment received by the western world.

Nice Indonesia!!!! From Malaysia!😘

far more efficient ways of cleaning, and recycling the oils we already have would help quite a bit, or even look towards cleaner, healthier alternatives. It sounds like Indonesia is just taking care of itself, can't really blame them for that.

Sounds like a healthy change for the world

indonesian here. i was working closely to one of the biggest palm/cooking oil company in east java. im telling you we never have to worry about deficit because every year they expand the land for this. mostly located in borneo island. our local shipping company is kinda crazy too here. overdraft barge is very common. if barge has maximum allowed of 3000mt, they will fill it with almost double. barge will be semi underwater like submarine. lmao. but somehow few months back ppl had difficulty to find cooking oil in market. one way to explain. cartel + politics. politics involved because our govt prioritized export to rake more money. cartel to hold supply to increase its price even more.

Thank you Indonesia for providing other countries to go self reliant.

Indonesia has OIC and ASEAN as backup. And soon might joined into BRICS too. There would be very abundant markets for Indonesia's products. So the EU can sue whatever they want against Indonesia, but Indonesia will also banning more commodities exports to EU. Any European countries who needed anything from Indonesia, they can do it bilaterally.

Dengan adanya larangan ekspor minyak sawit ini, Indonesia bisa tahu jika sawit Indonesia sangat dibutuhkan dunia. Minyak kedelai dan bunga matahari itu tidak mencukupi.

Actually only 20 percent of Indonesia's total CPO production is needed to supply domestic market. And the government has long regulated that producers have to supply their 20 percent of CPO to domestic market. But the reason why local cooking oil price gets tripled is because the CPO cartel (which many producers dominated by Singapore/Malaysian owners) blatantly disregards the government regulation. They want to export the 20 percent too, or at least sell their cooking oil to the domestic market at the same level of international price. They bribes Indonesian trade ministry's general director for foreign trade to secretly gives license for their exports. This is a big interest group. Ranging from the producers to the government officials. Moreover, that director general guy was also a commissioner at Indonesian SOE in CPO. And you know what, the SOE was almost bankrupt with billions USD of debt. Other CPO producers make money. Only government one doesn't even with hundreds of thousands hectares of palm plantations. This, i suspect that the interest group has long been trying to dismantle government control over CPO market.

Finally. Kudos.

Get an Air fryer.

Produce for those who need. Forget about EU market.

As an Indonesian I really hope now this at their war moments our government banned export anymore cooking oil to European countries because they're really strictly always against our cpo

Wiwkwkw dunia ketar-ketir sama minyak Indonesia 😂😂

the shortage was 2 month ago, currently the stock are increasing, i saw several shelves full of cooking oil but 20% more expensive

It would be better for Indonesia to diversify it’s agriculture and economy. Canada is just entering planting season. We are the major producer of canola and we produce sunflower and wheat. I suspect less lentils and mustard will be planted in the northern prairies and more oil crops.

Palm oil is excellent for taste and holds its quality well. I wouldn’t worry too much as when the price is high enough they will export. I’m not sure but this could just be a seasonal deal.

Deforestation for palm oil plantations is already a huge contributor to CO2 emissions and loss of biodiversity... To expand this because of short-term cooking oil shortages, will come with a price we'll be paying for generations. Why not mention this in this reporting? The environmental issues with palm oil are common knowledge.

we're going back to the past 😂Good job Indonesia🇮🇩

"We may lose fish and chips" - be more dramatic please

"We'll loos fish and chips in England" not a chance bud, you can use other oil.

In case you don't already know, Indonesia is converting palm oil into biodiesel. 30% of Indonesian B30 diesel fuel consists of palm oil ... and this will only be increased over time. Indonesia might stop palm oil export if the price of crude oil is high for a prolonged time to reduce imports.

I wish it was explained why other oils can't be used, like coconut oil or vegetable oil.

Thats actually a good thing as Long as companies don‘t seek even more cheap and environmentally damaging alternative suppliers

Palm oil is bad for environment because the western world said so, whereas in fact palm tree produces the most yield per unit area as compared to other plants.

Well for me it is good and healthy because you can eat boiled or steam and be healthy and save money too.

Kudos to Indonesian who busy planting trees 🌴 🌴🌴 while other countries keep increasing CO2 pollution with their industries.

On 4 April 2017, the Indonesian palm oil industry was shocked by the issuance of the European Union (EU) Parliamentary Resolution on Palm Oil and Deforestation of Rainforest (palm oil and deforestation of rainforests). The issuance of this resolution is a challenge for Indonesian palm oil products, especially those that will enter the EU market.

Not many countries know Indonesia, but they know it immediately after they lost something what they need immediately. EU decided to ban CPO from Indonesia in 2017 for environmental reasons, but now they wanted it immediately.

Welp here comes more inflation for food stuffs.

I agree on export bans for Indonesia, it's having an impact on my business here in Indonesia. 👍

He can't say what the actual problem is as you could tell by the convoluted answer at the end, but it's not because of the war in Ukraine. Points to any reporters at DW who can figure it out because there's an interesting story there.

Fish & chips taste best cooked in used oil anyway. Just skim the oil and use it for an extra day.

Teris Iman brings up a good point at the end. How much of what Indonesia exports is raw palm oil vs actually usable products? The same problem comes up with petroleum oil producers. If all one country can produce is the raw material, it is dependent on other countries to refine it. I don't know anything about the economics or manufacturing processes around palm oil, so I don't know how much of a problem this is for Indonesia.

How much oil do they need

the reason this happen is, cooking oil product price surge to 4 times the regular one before the suspension of export many believe there are lots of mafia for palm oil in play and then goverment take drastic measure, maybe they will impose ban for 1-2 weeks

just boil your food lol, thats what our politician told us

Lots of Vegetable and Olive oil in my store at the same price , so no big deal in Canada.

Hello , from Indonesia 🇲🇨...

Palm oil is the closest plant equivalent to lard. They can keep it.

Less crapy fried food more healthy cooked food. Its great news actually.

Human arteries around the world just breathed a sigh of relief...

Good thing I'm not used to using a lot of oil in my cooking.

ok, but why? why is it costing double now? is there less? are people using more?

Its always a great news to see Europe and US economic suffer from gas to food shortage 🤣🇮🇩🇮🇩🇮🇩💪

America has plenty of CORN OIL.

yeah, the "normal" price before pandemic is around 1 euro and less, and now is around 1,8-2 euro per litre.....

convert to hot air fryers....they require a drop of oil compared to deep frying.

saving one heart a day!😁

I follow DW a lot and find their stories informative. This one however is unclear. What does the rising price of palm oil have to do with War in Ukraine?. If the oil is not going to that region, for whatever reason, doesn't that mean there is more available for the rest of the World? Obviously, I'm missing something but the report as presented is confusing.

lol, they are banning the RBDPO and refined cooking oil but not the CPO. so refiner elsewhere will still be able to make refined cooking oil.

Dam , well this is crazy times , hope we can get out of this soon.

From $1 per litre to $3 per litre. . For us, Indonesians who just have $150-$400 / month income the oil price rise is a huge blown to us.. Every cheap food become more expensive.

That Nutella is gonna be hella expensive now. Oh well! Good for Indonesia

Has there ever been been developed a synthetic deep fry oil? Sounds gross but if it was more stable it could be less harmful than toxic seedoils.

Use whatever oil is grown locally

Start grilling, steaming and boiling. Adapt.

Oh gooood! The tragedy, the horror of having more expensive fish n chips! We will loose it! The government must take some action, we cannot forever loose such a staple of British cuisine!

As an Indonesian i want to thank the Government for always making sure us Indonesian has an easy access to main food source. The world and even Indonesian keep forgetting how easy and comfy life is for us Indonesian, when so many part of the world is in crisis even poor people in Indonesia won’t be hungry, even if you make only 3$ a day, you can have 3 full meals of “Rice+Tofu+Tempeh+Hot Tea”, and it’s delicious. (This comfiness makes people lazy tho)

hi i'm from indonesian, so why did Indonesia ban export of palm oil? because currently our country is experiencing a shortage of palm oil due to people who want to enrich themselves so that it is very difficult for the people in our country to buy cooking oil and the price is not conducive. so our president urges us to ban the export of palm oil abroad, the aim is to stabilize the supply and price of cooking oil in our country, and maybe if it is stable and the price returns to normal the Indonesian government will export palm oil abroad again.

Not good to hear that they’re expanding production of palm oil when so much of its land use comes from deforestation.

Hopefully the Indonesian economy will be better... Stay safe and healthy...

There's more going on with this story than is obvious, and it's not adequately explained.

I hope it encourages people to use other cooking methods like steaming or boiling in water. Cooking in oil is not the best

Isn't the great British fish and chips supposed to be cooked in beef tallow? TBH I wish my government would priorotise our local consumers with our products.

As a Nigerian: it is interesting to note that that palm oil is NOT native to Asia. It was imported from west Africa after supplies dropped from southern Nigeria. This was due to a systematic attempts by the northern Nigeria to deprive the south of supplies during war time. Now decades of government corruption has choked the Nigerian oil palm industry out of the international market. In other words, Nigeria played itself!

The good things about numbers, they represent believes and hope 😊

There is no cooking oil rationing in the UK, wrong reporting.

Doesn't affect me, i already use one of the most expensive oils 'Olive oil, but some industries will get affected leading to price increase in some products.

Lard is an alternative and I've fried in it before. The taste is superior to vegetable oils. Could canola, sunflower and other oils be an alternative to palm oil? In the US, heart disease was relatively unknown until the introduction of margarine around 1918.

Can people just filter and reuse cooking oil?

this is good news. philippines is harvesting a lot of palm fruit and there is no processing plant here. it's being exported to indonesia. it's time someone build a processing plant here cos we are actually cutting down these trees cos it's being bought too cheap.

Due to official corruption in Indonesia, CPO oil increases the selling price. It's normal for corrupt officials to play games

In india , edible oil are at all time high from last 2 Years (From Mustard oil to Refined oil).

Packed food prices are going to sky rocket.

Hmm, maybe Senegal can get their peanut oil export running again. That would be huge for the country.