Jakarta. The world’s second-largest coconut producer Indonesia is eyeing the production of sustainable aviation fuel as a means to derive more value from the fruit.

Reports showed that Indonesia produced 2.8 million metric tons of coconut in 2023, just behind the Philippines. Indonesia exported $1.55 billion of coconuts that year, representing about 38.3 percent of the global market share. China, Malaysia, and Singapore were among the top Indonesian coconut buyers.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said Monday that there still remained room for growth for export, and capturing greater added value out of coconut through bioenergy could help Indonesia boost what it ships overseas annually. And Indonesia needs to take a look at coconut-based jet fuel as the green economy holds great potential for the country, according to Jokowi. 

“Creating greater added value is pivotal to job creation. Research is incredibly important. ... We need to make use of technologies, especially those related to the coconut downstream sector. I have seen coconut waste used for bioenergy. I think we really need to develop this. We can even turn coconuts into jet fuels,” Jokowi told an international coconut conference in Surabaya on Monday. 

“This is a huge task that we have to address. So we can promote the use [of sustainable or coconut-based aviation fuel] in other countries,” Jokowi said.

Indonesia has begun using sustainable jet fuel, although its content derives from palm oil rather than coconuts. The state-run energy firm Pertamina produces this palm oil-based sustainable aviation fuel. Flag carrier Garuda Indonesia launched its first commercial flight using this type of jet fuel last October. 

Jokowi’s successor Prabowo Subianto has spoken of sustainable aviation fuel in his campaign manifesto. According to the document, Prabowo -- who will rise to power this October -- seeks to carry on Jokowi’s biodiesel and sustainable jet fuel policies. But again, the document shows that Prabowo’s bioenergy strategy mainly focuses on palm oil. Indonesia is also among the world’s largest palm oil producers. 

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