January-October 2018: Palm Oil Exports to 3 ASEAN Countries Decline

Indonesia's palm oil exports to three ASEAN countries declined during the January-October 2018 period. According to data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), the largest decrease in Indonesian palm oil exports was to Thailand, falling by 56.48% to 10,000 tons compared to the same period the previous year. This was followed by a 43.34% decrease in exports to Singapore, reaching 298,000 tons, and a 1.86% reduction in exports to the Philippines, totaling 428,000 tons.

Meanwhile, palm oil exports to Malaysia saw a growth of 22.12%, reaching 878,000 tons compared to the previous period. Similarly, palm oil exports to Myanmar increased by 9.18% to 605,000 tons, and exports to Vietnam surged by 123.68% to 321,000 tons.

In total, the volume of palm oil exports to ASEAN countries in the first ten months of last year grew by 5.75% to 2.54 million tons. However, the value of palm oil exports decreased by 5.63% to US$1.63 billion. The decline in global palm oil prices was the main factor contributing to the decrease in foreign exchange earnings from palm oil exports to Southeast Asian countries.