InfoSAWIT, JAKARTA – In the first meeting of Asosiasi Kabupaten Penghasil Sawit Indonesia (AKPSI) 2022, Minister of Trade, Zulkifli Hasan (Zulhas) told, palm oil productivity as the mainstay export commodity of Indonesia should be escalated. It needs to positively correlate with the smallholders’ welfare in this country.

He said, Ministry of Trade would support palm oil development in Indonesia. “It needs to increase the productivity and should be positively correlating to smallholders’ welfare in this country,” he said, as in the official statement to InfoSAWIT, Saturday (16/7/2022) in Jakarta.

Zulhas also mentioned, palm oil plays the strategic roles to develop the economy in this country. In its trade, the exports reached US$ 32,8 billion and contributed to almost 15% of non-oil and gas exports from Indonesia in 2021.

"Palm oil has many derivative products, such as, palm cooking oil. This is one daily needs in Indonesia,” he said. To stabilize the price and supply, the government, he continued, published series of policies. The government keeps evaluating the implementation of many policies and should be adaptive and innovative to respond the markets. Besides the government through Ministry of Trade published the policies about crude palm oil (CPO) and its derivative exports to empower the economy in Indonesia.

“The policies are about to guarantee fairness from the consumers’ protection, from the smallholders’ welfare, and stakeholders in this country,” he said by hoping that AKPSI as the partner of the government would also escalate the strategic roles of palm oil in Indonesia’s economy. “AKPSI is hoped to support Indonesia in its position as the biggest palm oil producer in Indonesia,” he said. (T2)