Indonesia's palm oil exports fall 20% in January-August 2022

Indonesia's crude palm oil (CPO) exports have decreased throughout this year. The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reported a 20.8% drop in Indonesia's CPO export volume to 14.65 million tons during the January-August 2022 period compared to the same period the previous year.

This decline is driven by a global economic slowdown, resulting in decreased global demand for palm oil. Furthermore, the decrease in Indonesian palm oil exports is also due to the harvesting season for other vegetable oils in other regions.

However, the value of exports still recorded a 3.99% increase to US$19.37 billion, or approximately Rp290 trillion (using an exchange rate of Rp15,000 per US dollar) during the January-August 2022 period compared to the same period the previous year, valued at US$18.62 billion.

Of the top 10 export destinations for Indonesian CPO, only exports to India and the US saw volume growth. Exports to the other eight major countries decreased.

CPO exports to India increased by 3.67% to 2.47 million tons during the January-August 2022 period compared to the same period the previous year. Similarly, national palm oil exports to the US rose by 3.52% to 1.1 million tons.

Meanwhile, CPO exports to China plummeted by 48.18% to only 1.64 million tons in the January-August 2022 period compared to the same period the previous year. Similarly, CPO exports to Pakistan also decreased by 13.13% to 1.57 million tons during the January-August 2022 period.

Furthermore, palm oil exports to Malaysia fell by 1.23% to 962,780 tons during the January-August 2022 period compared to the same period the previous year. CPO exports to Bangladesh also dropped by 18.95% to 719,000 tons, exports to Egypt fell by 22.88% to 503,030 tons.

Similarly, national palm oil exports to Russia decreased by 8.04% to 423,680 tons, exports to Spain fell by 49.72% to 356,910 tons, and to the Netherlands by 16.72% to 356,090 tons.

In total, Indonesia's CPO exports to the top ten destinations decreased by 19.37% to 10.1 million tons during the January-August 2022 period compared to the same period the previous year.

However, the value of exports still grew by 5.37% to US$13.26 billion during the January-August 2022 period compared to the same period the previous year.