JAKARTA - Indonesia has great potential in developing downstream palm oil derivative products. This is supported by the abundant availability of industrial raw materials, where the production of Crude Palm Oil (CPO) and Crude Palm Kernel Oil (CPKO) reached 52.14 million tons in 2020.
In addition, Indonesia's population of more than 270 million people is a very large market potential for downstream food palm oil products, personal wash, personal care, and biofuels. "Indonesia is predicated as very superior in the supply and demand of world palm oil," said Plt. Director General of Agro Industry, Ministry of Industry, Putu Juli Ardika in Jakarta, Thursday (21/10).
Plt. The Director General of Agro Industry stated several quantitative achievements of the palm oil industry sector for the national economy, including contributing foreign exchange exports of more than IDR300 trillion per year and absorbing a workforce of 5.2 million people.
The Ministry of Industry projects the sectoral economic value of the palm oil industry from upstream to downstream to reach IDR750 trillion per year, of which IDR300 trillion contributed from foreign exchange exports. "This figure does not include the multiplier effect from the supporting industrial services sector to other related services that arise due to the presence of the palm oil industry throughout Indonesia," said Putu.
During this pandemic, Putu continued, Indonesian oleochemical products are also in demand by global consumers as sanitary materials. This has an impact on the export performance of personal wash products in the January-May 2021 period, which grew by 10.47% compared to the same period in 2020. The export volume for five months this year reached 1.64 million tons or worth USD1.53 billion. (LM)