Jakarta,
Dec 14 (ANTARA) - This year, the Indonesian crude palm oil (CPO)
industry has witnessed a decline in its commodity prices. The
CPO industry had recorded a good performance in 2011 when palm oil
production increased by 7.3 percent, reaching 23.5 million tonnes. The
export value of palm oil increased by 5.7 percent and reached 16.5
million tonnes.
The price of palm oil had also increased by 24 percent, and it had
reached US$1.125 (CIF Rotterdam) per tonne in 2011. However, this year,
the price fell to US$900 per tonne," said Indonesia's Palm Oil Council
Chairman (DMSI), Derom Bangun. Even, he said, it is predicted to decline further to US$850 per tonne because of the ongoing global crisis.
Although
the production of palm oil has increased to 25.5 million tonnes this
year, the world's CPO price in 2012 fell to about US$900 per tonne,
lower than what experts had predicted (US$1,100 per tonne).
There has been a stark increase in the world's CPO price because some
countries feel that CPO is not an environmentally friendly product.
France,
Indonesia's main CPO export market in Europe, is threatening to impose a
300 percent import duty, which can reduce the competitiveness of
Indonesia's CPO in France.
The Indonesian Palm Businessmen Organisation (GAPKI) has urged the
Indonesian government to fight against the proposed hike of CPO's import
tax (300 percent in France).
"The government should prevent this new regulation from coming into
force by urging French officials not to increase the import tax. They
should convince the French officials that CPO is healthy and
environmentally friendly," said Fadil Hasan, GAPKI's executive director.
"As our palm commodities and CPO enter the global market, the European
nations want Indonesia to export oil palm products of superior quality,"
he noted.
According to Derom Bangun, threats against Indonesia's CPO in France
are becoming more intense with each passing day. France will be
launching an anti-CPO campaign by putting CPO-free labels (Sans Huile de
Palme) on the packaging of its food products.
"Threats are increasing because France is planning to impose additional
taxes on Indonesia¿s CPO. It is considering raising the CPO import tax
from 98.74 Euros per tonne to 300 Euros per tonne," said Derom Bangun.
The Indonesian government has worked hard to convince the world that
CPO is environmentally friendly. It had also tried to convince the world
during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum last
September.
However, leaders and representatives from 21 member countries did not
include CPO in the list of 54 environmentally friendly goods.
Products on the list can be exported to countries, with a reduction in the import tax by up to 5 percent by 2015.
The Indonesian Association of Palm Oil Companies (GAPKI) is unhappy that the APEC had not added CPO to the list.
Yet, the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) is
optimistic that CPO will be added to the list of APEC's green products
at a later stage. The approved items are environmentally friendly
products.
"The
exclusion of CPO from the list of environmentally friendly products is
not a failure. It is only a matter of time (before crude palm oil is
included in the list). The Indonesian government is still fighting to
ensure that CPO is added to the list," said Suryo B Sulisto, chairman of
the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
GAPKI's
chairman, M Fadhil, added that the demand for Indonesia's CPO will
continue to grow in the world market. "There is a possibility that
import duties on CPO will be reduced, based on several bilateral trade
agreements," he said.
The Head of the Fiscal Policy Agency, Bambang Brodjonegoro, said
Indonesia can propose a tariff reduction facility through the Free Trade
Agreement (FTA) mechanism.
"Indonesia can propose a free trade agreement with Pakistan. We can
export CPO to Pakistan with a free import tax tariff," he said.
Indonesia,
the world's largest crude palm oil producer signed a preferential trade
agreement (PTA) with Pakistan in February. Under the PTA, Indonesia
hopes that it can boost its annual exports of palm oil to Pakistan to
over US$550 billion in the coming years.
The value of Indonesia's palm oil exports to Pakistan had once reached
US$550 million per annum, though it had fallen by nearly 75 percent, to
below US$100 million, after Malaysia, the world's second largest
producer, concluded a PTA with Pakistan.
"I hope Indonesia will regain the value of its past exports of about
US$500 million. This means that we will be able to increase our total
exports to Pakistan to US$1.5 billion - 1.6 billion. Indonesia's total
exports to Pakistan now account for about US$1 billion," said the Trade
and Industry Minister, Gita Wirjawan.
In 2011, Indonesia's CPO production was recorded at 23.5 million
tonnes, of which 16.6 million tonnes were exported. Palm oil production
in 2010 was recorded at about 22 million tonnes, with only 15.6 million
tonnes being exported.
By 2020, the country expects to increase its annual production of CPO to 40 million tonnes.
Derom Bangun said the country's crude palm oil production in 2013 is
estimated to increase by around 10 percent, reaching 28 million tonnes.
"This year's production is predicted to reach only 25.5 tonnes," he
said, adding that it will be difficult to increase the production by
more than 10 percent, because in the past few years, development of new
plantations had not been significant.
In addition, efforts to develop oil palm plantations have also been
hindered by various domestic and foreign government policies, including
the oil palm moratorium, he said.
"Between 1990 and 1995, Indonesia¿s national production had increased
by 13 percent every year, but after that, production has never reached
that level, due to land procurement problems," he said.
Bangun believes that the demand for CPO will rise because of the growing population and industries.
"In
2013, the price of palm oil is projected to remain low, at around
US$850 per tonne because of the ongoing global crisis," he said.***2***
(T.A014/INE/a014)
(T.A014/A/KR-BSR/A/A014) 14-12-2012 18:51:5 |
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