JakartaPost-May 11, 2022
Indonesia’s “unpredictable” palm oil export policies may help Malaysia emerge as the dominant supplier to India, the world’s top buyer of the edible oil, industry sources said. Indonesia is the world’s biggest palm oil producer but its erratic export policies, including the most recent ban announced on April 22, have pushed Indian consumers to increase their dependence on Malaysia, the world’s second-largest producer whose output is less than half of its rival. Malaysia is positioning itself to take advantage of Indonesia’s ban by cutting palm oil export taxes by as much as half, Malaysia’s Commodities Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin said on Tuesday. “Malaysia is the biggest beneficiary from Indonesia’s unpredictable policies,” said BV Mehta, executive director of Mumbai-based Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA), a vegetable oil trade body. “As Indonesia is not in the market, Malaysia is selling more, and at near record high prices.” In the first five months of the 2021/22 marketing year, India has bought 1.47 million tons of Malaysian palm oil compared to 982,123 from Indonesia, data compiled by SEA showed. If Indonesia’s export ban stays in place for two more weeks, then India’s June palm oil imports could fall to 350,000 tons, mostly from Malaysia. New Normal? Read more at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/business/2022/05/11/indonesias-flip-flops-give-malaysia-edge-in-top-palm-oil-market-india.html.
