Opportunities for Cooperation Open Wide

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JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Palm oil-producing countries must work together to take advantage of growing opportunities in the global palm oil market.

Cooperation opportunities are wide open among oil palm companies from Indonesia, Malaysia and Colombia. Indonesia is ready to share its experiences with Colombia, such as in diversifying and marketing palm oil products.

The Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries (CPOPC) is ready to facilitate meetings between palm oil companies in the three countries if they are interested in establishing a partnership.

"There are opportunities to cooperate with Columbian companies in a wide range of fields, such as production, processing and marketing. But it depends entirely on business-to-business negotiations," CPOPC executive director Mahendra Siregar said on Thursday on the sidelines of the “Investment Opportunities in the Palm Oil Sector in Colombia” seminar in Jakarta.

"However, desire and realization rely much on business-to-business talks. We are not beyond that," Mahendra added.

The CPOPC groups the world’s three largest palm oil producers, Indonesia, Malaysia and Colombia, which control 90 percent of global palm oil production.

Mahendra said the CPOPC had discussed several issues that concerned producers, including productivity, standardization, regulations and added value. The council hoped that Colombia would continue to grow its palm oil industry in both production and productivity, especially among smallholder farmers. "More importantly, in developing the palm oil markets in Central and South America, which have the potential to continue to grow," he said.

Increased demand in line with population growth presented wider opportunities for market expansion. "We also want to share [our] experience in diversification with Colombia. Don\'t rely only on certain markets, in particular Europe, which is very uncertain and discriminative against palm oil," said Mahendra.

Colombian Ambassador to Indonesia Juan Camilo Valencia Gonzales said that although they were geographically distant, Colombia and Southeast Asian countries shared many similarities.

Colombia’s palm oil industry had great potential for growth. The industry played an important role in developing socioeconomic inclusion in Colombia, currently the fourth largest palm oil producer in the world and the largest in the Americas. "According to [our] estimates, Columbia produced more than 1.6 million tons of palm oil in 2017. There are more than 537,000 hectares of oil palm plantations in the country," said Gonzales.

European markets

Separately, Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution said the CPOPC would continue to maintain palm oil markets in Europe within the framework of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). "Indonesia is promoting sustainable palm oil, starting with the moratorium," he said in Jakarta on Thursday.

He was referring to the moratorium as regulated under Presidential Instruction (Inpres) No. 8/2018 on the licensing postponement and review and increased productivity of oil palm plantations.

The Presidential Instruction has imposed a 3-year moratorium on new licenses for oil palm plantations, which means that no new oil palm concession areas will be established during the three-year period. (CAS/JUD)

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