Indonesia to lift palm oil export ban starting next Monday

Indonesia will lift an export ban on crude palm oil, cooking oil, refined, bleached and deodorized (RBD) palm oil, and RBD palm olein starting May 23, as the country has brought domestic cooking oil prices and supply under control.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo said at a virtual press briefing on Thursday that the cooking oil supply in the local market has reached 211,000 tons, far higher than 64,000 tons the country had before the ban was imposed on April 28.

"Now we already have more (supply) than we need nationally," Widodo said.

The decision to lift the export ban came after protests from palm oil farmers and producers as they suffered declining prices and oversupply in fresh fruit bunches.

Separately, Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the export ban has been estimated to reduce the country's revenue by 6 trillion rupiahs (407.33 million U.S. dollars).