GRESIK – The government gave better adjustment to palm oil industries developing the downstream products. Secretary of Industry, Saleh Husin said, Indonesia has the superiority in palm oil industries, both in the upstream and downstream sectors.

Indonesian crude palm oil (CPO) production in 2014 was about 32 millions of tons and some of them became palm  cooking oil, fat, food solids, oleochemical products up to be biodiesel as the renewable source of energy.

Meanwhile palm cooking oil export activities, both in the pack and in the bulk in last year reached 13,7 millions tons reaching US$ 10,6 billions

“Indonesia knows that it is stable in stock and price in the domestic palm cooking oil. And these bring the big benefits to the food security,” he said in the press conference, Friday (17/4).

So the government makes, palm oil processing industries as the national priority to create the additional industrial values in the domestic.

Beside that, he continued, the government has made a policy to increase the crude palm oil (CPO) to be the downstream products having higher values.

“About five to ten years ago, Indonesia still relied on the exports of CPO only. By the downstream industry programme, we could change the traditional mentality to be modern productive one, such as, increase the exports of higher values of downstream products, as the results of intellectual creation, feeling, and works of innovation and production.

He thought, palm oil downstream industrial policy gives the opportunity to the investment up to US$ 3,1 billions until the end of 2014. Beside that, the ratio of uptream and downstream export products which were 60% - 40% in 2011, had changed to be 40% - 60% in 2014.
“The numbers of downstream products had developed fast. There were 150 kinds of downstream products which were 54 products in the first place in 2011,” he said.(T3)