NEWS
Indonesia bans palm and cooking oil exports Indonesia will ban all cooking oil exports and their raw materials, including palm oil, effective from 28 April, President Joko Widodo announced on 22 April. Widodo said he wanted to ensure the availability of food products at home after global food inflation soared to a record high following Russia's invasion of major crop producer Ukraine, Reuters wrote. "I will monitor and evaluate the implementation of this policy so availability of cooking oil in the domestic market becomes abundant and affordable," he said. Indonesia is the world's top palm oil
exporter and accounts for more than half of global palm oil supply. AgriCensus said the shock measure had been introduced against a backdrop of mounting civil unrest as the cost of living had surged domestically, amid reports that Widodo was considering extending his term as the country's president. The government had placed new responsibilities on exporters to guarantee domestic supply when exporting, and introduced new reference prices, but the measures had produced mixed results, with accusations of corruption (see story below).
The shock announcement would hurt top palm oil consumers such as India, Atul Chaturvedi, president of Indian Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA) said. AgriCensus wrote that palm oil prices would be bullish with export availability limited, to the advantage of other suppliers such as Malaysia, Colombia, Papua New Guinea and Thailand. Alternative vegetable oil prices spiked in response to the announcement, with soyabean oil rising 4.5% to a record high of U$83.21/pound on the Chicago Board of Trade, Reuters wrote on 23 April.
Ivory Coast exporters have been rejecting more than half of drought-affected cocoa beans due to poor quality, Reuters reported on 15 March. The November to March dry season in the world’s top cocoa producer had been hotter and dryer than usual this year, with lack of rain still affecting many parts of the country, Lack of moisture caused cocoa beans to become small and acidic. With the dry weather causing damage to the last stage of the October to March main crop, some farmers feared it could also impact the upcoming midcrop, which ran from April to September, the report said.
IN BRIEF FRANCE: French vegetable oil and biodiesel group Avril said on 13 April that it plans to expand its sunflowerseed crushing capacity to become more independent in sunflower oil and meal. "In processing more than 1M tonnes of sunflowerseeds, over 50% of France's production of sunflower will be valorised by our group,” the company said when announcing its 2021 results. “Our project will also contribute to the expansion of this crop, which is expected to increase in surface area by 900,000 ha or 30% compared to 2021.” 6 OFI – MAY 2022
General News May 2022.indd 3
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Exporters reject drought-affected cocoa beans
Cocoa beans can become small and acidic due to lack of moisture
Of the 11 exporters and grinders that Reuters interviewed at the main ports of Abidjan and San Pedro, some
said they had turned down more than half the beans received since January. “Cocoa of this quality is not
exportable. We are refusing on average 50% of deliveries because of this,” an exporter from a European company based in San Pedro said. In some shipments, beans have arrived with a free fatty acid (FFA) content of 5% or 6%, far above the standard of 1.75% accepted for international exports, according to the commercial director of an Abidjan export company. Beans were also smaller and lower in cocoa butter content, Reuters wrote, Exporters and grinders both said they expected poor cocoa bean quality to persist for the first two to three months of the mid-crop.
Four charged in cooking oil conspiracy An Indonesian trade official and three palm oil executives have been charged in connection with a cooking oil shortage conspiracy, Mongabay reported on 19 April. The suspects allegedly conspired to secure export permits to sell crude palm oil (CPO) at record high prices internationally, contrary to a domestic market obligation, the report said. The Indonesian government had imposed a domestic market obligation policy (DMO) in February due to a cooking oil shortage, mandating companies to allocate 20% of their CPO for domestic use and imposing a domestic price obligation (DPO) which capped the CPO selling price. The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) announced on 19 April that it had charged Indrasari Wisnu Wardhana, the director-general of foreign trade at the Ministry of Trade, for issuing CPO
export permits to four companies: the Permata Hijau Group, Wilmar Nabati Indonesia, Multimas Nabati Asahan and Musim Mas. Prosecutors alleged that the companies failed to meet the DPO requirement but managed to secure export permits from Indrasari, allowing them to take advantage of record high prices on the international market. The companies also allegedly sold CPO on the domestic market at prices higher than those set by the government. Executives from the four companies, including Wilmar Nabati Indonesia commissioner Master Parulian Tumanggor, were also charged. In response, the Wilmar Group stated it would support the law enforcement process, Tempo reported on 20 April. The company also claimed that it had complied with all applicable regulations related to palm oil exports. www.ofimagazine.com
04/05/2022 12:25:14
