Indonesia Investments updated the company profile of Salim Ivomas Pratama. The company, controlled by the Salim Group, is one of Indonesia's largest vertically integrated agribusiness players. It is a leading oil palm plantation company that - besides producing crude palm oil, fresh fruit bunches, palm kernel and other palm oil derivative products - also produces rubber and sugar cane. Salim Ivomas Pratama is known as the leading producer of cooking oil and margarine.

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Indonesia's biodiesel consumption has risen considerably during the last three months after the Indonesian government raised the mandatory amount of palm oil (fatty acid methyl ester) blended in biodiesel from 7.5 percent to 10 percent. For power plants that use biodiesel the amount has been increased to 20 percent. Biodiesel consumption in Southeast Asia's largest economy jumped from 57,871 kiloliters in August 2013 to 101,857 kiloliters in September and to 116,281 kiloliters in October.

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Sawit Sumbermas Sarana, a subsidiary of palm oil plantation company Citra Borneo Indah, plans to release 15.7 percent of its shares (1.5 billion shares) to the public through an initial public offering (IPO). The IPO will be conducted in November 2013. The book building takes place between 7 and 20 November and the official listing on the Indonesia Stock Exchange is scheduled for 12 December 2013. The underwriters of the IPO are BNP Paribas Securities, Mandiri Sekuritas and RHB OSK Securities.

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Indonesia Investments has updated the company profile of Bakrie Sumatera Plantations. The company is an Indonesian integrated agribusiness company that engages in oil palm and rubber plantations. It produces palm oil and its derivatives, and processes natural rubber products as well as oleo-chemicals. The company currently manages oil palm and rubber plantations with a total planted area of 122,024 ha, supported by six palm oil processing plants, four natural rubber processing plants and two oleo-chemicals processing facilities.

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Business players within Indonesia's palm oil sector have expressed concern about a recently introduced law that stipulates limits to plantations sizes, including oil palm plantations. The government of Indonesia issued law Permentan No 98/Permentan/OT.140/9/2013 that sets maximum boundaries to the surface area of eleven commodities. The palm oil industry of Indonesia now argues that targets mentioned in the country's palm oil roadmap cannot be met. For example, the production target of 40 million tons of palm oil by 2020 is in jeopardy.

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The Indonesian government has limited the surface area of plantations that can be owned by a company or by a group of companies that have one shared management. This new regulatory framework, stipulated in Permentan No 98/Permentan/OT.140/9/2013 with regard to plantation estates' licensing guidelines, is applied to 11 commodities: tea, sugarcane, oil palm, coconut, cotton, rubber, coffee, cacao, cashew nuts, pepper as well as cloves. The new law has been approved by the minister of Justice and Human Rights Amir Syamsudin.

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The government of Indonesia expects to list two state-owned enterprises on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) in 2014. Minister of State-Owned Enterprises Dahlan Iskan announced that the two companies involve Perkebunan Nusantara III and Perkebunan Nusantara IV. The main reason behind conducting the initial public offerings (IPOs) is to reap funds for further expansion. The IPO plan needs to be approved first by the Privatization Committee, under the wings of the Ministry of Economy, and then by the House of Representatives (DPR).

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Although the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit meetings have not finished yet, there are already some interesting results. As has been reported previously, the Indonesian government will release another economic policy package in October. One new policy involves the revision of Indonesia's negative investment list (which lists sectors that are either wholly or partially closed to private foreign and/or domestic investment). Another positive result involves the APEC Environmental Goods List (APEC EG List).

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The government of Indonesia will lower the export duties on crude palm oil (CPO) from 10.5 percent in August to 9 percent in September if the CPO price continues to stay between USD $800-850 per ton. This lower tax policy is done in order to stimulate export revenues amid persistent weak global commodity prices. The international palm oil market is expected to remain stagnant in August and September. Stockpiles of CPO in Malaysia and Indonesia are projected to rise between September and December 2013.

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Perusahaan Perkebunan London Sumatra Indonesia (PP London Sumatra Indonesia or Lonsum), controlled by the powerful Salim Group, is an Indonesian plantation company focused on the production of palm oil, rubber, tea and cocoa. Its estates are located on the islands of Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan and Sulawesi. Amid weak global demand for commodities, the company posted a 72.1 percent fall in net profit over the first six months of 2013. Its shares have fallen 48.0 percent since the first trading day of 2013.

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It is uncertain whether Indonesia can impose the B50 stage of its biodiesel program in 2026 (which would be the next step after launching the B40 stage in Q1-2025). Currently, the B50 stage is still being studied. In fact, government officials are currently discussing whether it is better to opt for a B45 stage first.

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This month, our report is completed at a time when Indonesian society is celebrating Idul Fitri, the festivities that mark the end of the holy Ramadan month (the fasting month for Muslims). In fact, the holiday period started on 21 March 2025 for school-children, while society as a whole has an official national holiday from 28 March to 7 April 2025.

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Palm oil ranks among the most important agricultural commodities of Indonesia as this country is the world’s biggest producer of palm oil. This implies that Indonesia generates important foreign exchange earnings from palm oil exports and is a source of income for millions of workers on the plantations.

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Over the past couple of months we have informed on the shortage of cooking oil on the Indonesian market, the subsequent inflationary pressures this shortage caused, and the policies that were imposed by the government to tackle this shortage. But, we did not devote an entire article to this topic.

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Both Indonesia’s export and import performance was quite amazing in March 2022. While we expected imports to rebound ahead of the start of the Ramadan month (on 1 April 2022), a month that typically gives rise to a big increase in consumption, we did underestimate Indonesia’s export performance in last month’s forecast.

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Although there is plenty of opposition to – and criticism on – Indonesia for allowing crude palm oil (or CPO) to play a big role in the domestic economy (Indonesia being the world’s largest producer and exporter of CPO), the country is currently feeling the windfall from soaring CPO prices. And, it is contributing to Indonesia’s recovery from the severe – and still ongoing – novel coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis.

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Indonesia is the world’s biggest palm oil grower as well as the world’s biggest exporter of crude palm oil (CPO). Traditionally, palm oil exports are ranked among the top three export products of Indonesia (along with coal and natural gas). As such, palm oil is of crucial importance for the Indonesian economy.

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It have not been great times for palm oil farmers and traders. Malaysia’s benchmark palm oil price is currently hovering near a three-year low of 1,949 ringgit (approx. USD $464.8) per ton amid high inventories, rising production and sluggish global demand.

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Several negative sentiments are putting pressure on the crude palm oil (CPO) price in the first week of March 2018. These sentiments are expected to continue pushing downward pressure on the CPO price in the remainder of this week. On Monday (05/03) the CPO price on the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange (May 2018 shipments) fell 0.28 percent to 2,467 ringgit per metric ton. Compared to one week earlier, the price has now declined 2.91 percent.

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In the battle between Indonesia and the European Union (EU) regarding the latter's anti-dumping duties on Indonesian biodiesel exports, Indonesia won six out of seven legal challenges. Indonesia had challenged the EU's duties, set in 2013, on biodiesel imports from Indonesia and Argentina. The World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled, largely, in favor of Indonesia.

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