Amidst an ongoing surge in the crude price of palm oil, Indonesian farmers support the country’s palm oil ban set to begin on April 28. While some politicians have criticized the ban, Indonesia’s Oil Palm Farmers Union said today that the ban is a “temporary ban” necessary for supply and affordability of cooking oil in the domestic market.
Last month, cooking oil ‘mafias’ formed in Indonesia due to the country’s shortage on the product. The Russia-Ukraine crisis has impacted the supply of vegetable oil in Indonesia, making palm oil more expensive. In November last year, the global CPO price was about US$1,300 per tonne. Now, it’s US$1,600 per tonne.
After police raided warehouses last month, they found at least three to be hoarding cooking oil in northern Sumatra. Now, the Oil Palm Farmers Union says companies are “forgetting their duty to fullfill domestic…
