Jakarta. Indonesia recorded an 11.4 percent increase in its palm oil export in October 2023, industry association data shows.

The double-digit growth follows skyrocketing exports of oleochemicals, which are key in personal care and cosmetics production.

The Indonesian Palm Oil Association (Gapki) reported that the country’s exports of its top commodity totaled 3 million tons compared to September's export volume of 2.7 million tons.

“We witnessed the largest growth in oleochemical exports, which went up by 21.9 percent. [Oleochemical exports] increased from 333,000 tons in September to 406,000 tons the following month,” Mukti Sardjono, the executive director of Gapki, said in a press statement on Tuesday.

“Followed by crude palm oil [CPO] exports which rose 13.3 percent from 233,000 tons in September to 264,000 tons in October,” Mukti said.

Indonesia shipped out only 5,000 tons of biodiesel overseas in October, quite a sharp decline from 21,000 tons the previous month. The total palm oil exports in the first 10 months of 2023 amounted to 27.6 million tons. This is worth approximately $23.5 billion, according to Gapki.

The archipelagic country produced 45.8 million tons of palm oil in January-October 2023. About 41.8 million tons of what it produced were CPO.

Indonesia -- along with Malaysia -- is the world’s largest palm oil producer. The industry today is facing a series of challenges, including the European Union or EU’s anti-deforestation law. 

Palm oil is among the commodities that are subject to the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). The EUDR mandates geolocation coordinates to prove that the palm oil products that enter the EU market do not come from deforested land. It will also classify countries of production as high, standard, or low risk of deforestation.

Indonesia has said that the EUDR would put great pressure on its smallholders. Indonesia not long ago had teamed up with Malaysia to express their concerns over the anti-deforestation law. The said two countries, coupled with the EU, have also formed an ad hoc joint task force to identify the best possible solution.

“The government has established a joint mission. I even went [to Brussels] together with the Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister [Fadillah Yussof] to knock on the EU’s doors So they would not make regulations that breathe ‘plantation imperialism’,” Chief Economic Affairs Minister Airlangga Hartarto was quoted as saying in a ministerial press statement published early this month.

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