InfoSAWIT, MEDAN – Press plays the big roles to support palm oil industries in Indonesia. That is why the synergy between press and stakeholders in palm oil industries needs to get better.
Chairman in Communication of Indonesian Palm Oil Association (IPOA), Tofan Mahdi said it in an event series of seminar in the National Press Day in Medan, Wednesday (8/2/2023).
“By publishing objective and positive news about palm oil, palm oil industries would get better images. This would reinforce sustainability in the industries,” he said, as in the official statement to InfoSAWIT.
Speaking before hundreds of participants in National Press Day and students from many universities in North Sumatera, Tofan also told the roles of palm oil industries in Indonesia’s economy.
“When pandemic happened in 2020, economy of Indonesia developed bigger than it in many countries, ours was even better than it in advance countries,” he said.
Tofan also told in 2022 palm oil exchange hit the highest record in history. The exchange reached USD 39 billion or almost Rp 600 trillion. The highest export exchange helped rupiah currency to other foreign exchange namely US dollar.
“It could be hard to imagine our economy without palm oil industries,” the researcher of Paramadina Public Policy Institute, said.
He is optimist to the future prospect of palm oil industries. “From demand side, it would remain high in the globe but would Indonesia be the biggest palm oil producer and exporter in the world for 10 to 30 years to go? Wallahualam,” he said.
To maintain palm oil industrial operational in Indonesia, he continued, there is the most important aspect to notice, which is, policy.
“It is not about CPO cheap price that could destroy palm oil industries. If it can, it would take much time because CPO price is always in fluctuation. It could be cheaper always. There would be time to get better. But the wrong policy that is published to improve palm oil governance could destroy the strategic industries in a very short time,” Tofan said. (T2)
