Jakarta. Indonesia’s palm oil exports saw another double-digit increase as of July as shipments of this agricultural commodity -- both in crude and processed -- hit the $14 billion mark in value.

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) announced Monday that Indonesia’s export of crude palm oil (CPO) and its derivatives had totaled $14.02 billion so far this year as of July. Indonesia only sold $10.55 billion of palm oil to its trading partners over the same period in the previous year.

“This marks a 32.92 percent year-on-year [yoy] increase,” Pudji Ismartini, a deputy at the statistics bureau, told an online presser. 

Southeast Asia’s biggest economy has been relying on palm to extend its positive trade balance streak. Indonesia managed to keep the streak for 63rd consecutive months after a $4.17 billion surplus in July -- an accomplishment that Jakarta also attributed to palm oil commerce. 

The numbers are growing in double digits, volume and price-wise. 

Indonesia's exports of CPO and its processed goods amounted to 12.29 million tons between January and July 2024. The numbers later soared 10.95 percent yoy to 13.64 million tons.

Indonesia was selling its palm oil products at $1,042.72 per ton on average between January and July. Data showed that the average prices had gone up by 20.68 percent versus the $864.07 per ton seen the same period in 2024. According to Pudji, CPO accounted for 9.21 percent of the non-oil and gas exports in January-July 2025.

The statistics body did not disclose Indonesia’s biggest palm oil clients. However, the animal/vegetable fat and oil segment added $2.2 billion to what Indonesia sold to India as of July. This segment -- of which CPO is part of -- made up 20.26 percent of Indonesia's non-oil and gas exports in the same seven-month period, BPS showed. Indonesia is India's largest palm oil supplier.

Jakarta has faced many hurdles in its palm oil trade, especially when doing business with the European Union (EU). The bloc has introduced a regulation -- better known as the EUDR -- that requires operators placing palm oil-related goods onto the EU's market to provide proof their products do not come from deforested land. This anti-deforestation law will kick in on December 30 for large and medium-sized companies, while smaller enterprises still have time until June 30, 2026. 

“The EUDR is not yet in effect, but one thing is for sure. The EU will consider us [Indonesia] as a standard-risk country in its deforestation benchmarking system. So we are not high-risk,” Trade Ministry’s senior official Djatmiko Bris Widjaksono recently told the press.

A portion of Indonesia’s CPO goes to biodiesel production, a small few is meant for foreign markets. A panel ruling at the World Trade Organization (WTO) recently told the EU to drop its countervailing duties on Indonesian biodiesel, citing that the bloc’s report meant to justify the import tariff lacked objective investigation.

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