Indonesia Decides To Lift Palm Oil Export Ban Amid Mounting Pressure From Industry Groups

Indonesia has finally decided to lift the ban on palm oil exports amid consistently mounting pressure from Industry groups. Farmers claimed that demand for their palm fruits was missing. The country's president Joko Widodo has made the announcement of uplifting the ban on the cooking oil from May 23, according to news agency Reuters.

The decision of lifting the ban on the palm oil has come after lawmakers in the country urged the Indonesian government to reconsider the ban on palm oil exports. Meanwhile, several industry groups had earlier issued a warning that the palm oil production would soon come to a halt in the coming weeks as there was no storage capacity left. Lawmakers cited the warning from these industry groups to the country's government, added the Reuters report.

It is worth mentioning that palm oil is Indonesia's major source of revenue and a ban on it posed various problems to farmers and the 17 million workers engaged in the palm oil industry. Indonesia, world's leading palm oil exporter had announced to halt the shipment of crude palm oil (CPO) earlier on April 28, 2022 in an effort to control the surging prices of domestic cooking oil, as per the report of Reuters.

The decision of lifting the ban on palm oil comes despite bulk cooking oil having not yet receded to the targeted 14,000 rupiah per litre price, as the country's government contemplates the welfare of 17 million workers engaged in the palm oil industry, said president Joko Widodo in a video statement.