Jakarta. Indonesia kicked off 2025 with a considerable drop in the export of its top commodity palm oil, according to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).

Exports of Indonesian crude palm oil (CPO) and its derivative goods had fallen 24.1 percent from $1.89 billion in December 2024 to $1.44 billion in January 2025. Indonesian palm oil exports totaled $1.72 billion in January 2024, thus marking a 16.68 percent year-over-year decline. 

The Southeast Asian country sold 2.06 million tons of its CPO and derivatives to foreign markets in the first month of 2024. The export volume then shrank as the figures only reached 1.65 million tons in December 2024, and eventually went down to 1.27 million tons the following month.

“Our CPO and derivative exports are on a decline across markets like India, Pakistan, China, to name a few,” Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti, the acting head of BPS, told a press briefing on Monday.

BPS data shows that CPO exports are suffering a double digit decline across Indonesia’s main markets. Southeast Asia’s largest economy shipped only 59,500 tons of India-bound CPO and derivatives in January 2025, down by a whopping 43.65 percent versus the December 2024 figures. In January 2024, exports to India had totaled almost 4.3 million tons.

Indonesian palm oil exports to Pakistan suffered a 52.92 percent month-to-month decline in January, only reaching 176,100 tons. Indonesian sales of its CPO to China logged the biggest drop compared to other markets. Exports of China-bound CPO only totaled 39,600 tons in the first month of 2025, down 76.93 percent compared to December 2024.

“But CPO and derivatives remained one of the leading contributors to our non-oil and gas exports,” Amalia said.

About 7.04 percent of Indonesia’s non-oil and gas exports in January came from the palm oil trade.

Indonesia is the world’s largest palm oil producer alongside close neighbor Malaysia. The two ASEAN countries even make up 85 percent of the global supply. At present, Indonesia is allocating a portion of its palm oil for the mandatory B40 mix. This policy mandates using biodiesel has a mixture of 40 percent palm oil and 60 percent diesel fuel. Plans are underway to increase the mandatory palm oil blend to 50 percent next year in an attempt to cut diesel imports.