Indonesia has finally lifted their 3-week old export ban on palm oil from Monday as the domestic cooking oil supply has seen some improvements. Indonesia is the world’s biggest exporter of palm oil and they halted shipments of crude palm oil on April 28 to curb the soaring prices of domestic cooking oil.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Thursday said the supply of bulk cooking oil had now reached a level greater than needed.
“In several regions, prices of cooking oil were still relatively high, but I believe in coming weeks they will be more affordable,” news agency Reuters quoted Jokowi, as the president is known, saying in a video statement.
The ban was implemented when the global vegetable oil markets were struggling from the squeeze in sunflower oil supply from the war in Ukraine.
As the ban is lifted on palm oil, cooking oil prices in the domestic market are set to soften. India is the largest importer of palm oil from the Southeast Asian country and a prolonged ban would have doubled domestic prices. India imports about 8 million tonnes of palm oil annually. This accounts for a 40% share of the overall domestic edible oil consumption basket.
Palm oil is used in everything from food to soap to fuel. Indonesia’s move threatened to increase domestic costs even more across multiple supply chains at a time of rampant inflation.
Since the announcement on Thursday, the retail oil prices have been reduced by Rs 2 per kg in India.
For more breaking news, click here.