Indonesia's palm oil (Crude Palm Oil/CPO) export value surged 54.61% to US$28.52 billion in 2021 from the previous year. However, export volume slightly decreased by 1.57% to 26.9 million tons throughout last year compared to the previous year.
The increase in Indonesia's palm oil export value was driven by the improvement in global CPO prices, in line with rising food commodity prices. The CPO price on the Rotterdam Commodity Exchange was traded at US$1,020 per metric ton on January 5, 2021. This price had risen to US$1,610 by April 19, 2022.
Palm oil export volume showed a downward trend throughout 2020-2021, but its value increased, as shown in the graph illustrating the impact of rising global CPO prices.
Palm oil is a leading export commodity for Indonesia. Its export value constitutes the largest portion compared to other commodities, reaching 13.01% of Indonesia's total non-oil and gas exports in 2021.
The high international CPO price led to a cooking oil shortage in the market. The wide disparity in the price of exported CPO encouraged palm oil entrepreneurs to violate the Domestic Market Obligation (DMO) due to the government-set highest retail price (HTE).
For some time, cooking oil disappeared from the market, making it difficult for people to obtain it, both in traditional and modern markets.
As is known, the Attorney General's Office has named the Director General of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Trade, Indrasari Wisnu Wardhana, as a suspect in the cooking oil mafia case, which caused the cooking oil shortage in the market.
The Attorney General's Office has also named a Senior Manager of Corporate Affairs at Permata Hijau Group (initials SMA), a Commissioner of PT Wilmar Nabati Indonesia (initials MPT), and a General Manager of PT Musim Mas (initials PT).