Indonesia has issued palm oil export permits for nearly 180,000 tonnes: official

INDONESIA has issued export permits for 179,464 tonnes of palm oil as of Jun 2, a senior trade ministry official said on Thursday (Jun 2), after a ban on shipments was lifted last week.

The government has issued 160 export permits to 18 companies for the shipments, said Oke Nurwan of the trade ministry.

Indonesia imposed a 3-week export ban from Apr 28 to control soaring prices of cooking oil, made from palm oil, at home.

While exports have resumed, the government has put in place a obligatory domestic sales requirement for producers where export permits will only be granted if they have sold a portion of their products to the local market.

The government expected to allocated 1 million tonnes of palm oil exports based on domestic sales made during the export stoppage.

So far, permits have been issued for 87,109 tonnes of refined, bleached and deodorised (RBD) palm oil and 90,255 tonnes of RBD olein, while the rest were issued for cooking oil, according to trade ministry data provided by Oke. REUTERS