Crude palm oil (CPO) exporters will need to retain 30 percent of exports under the domestic market obligation (DMO), Trade Minister Muhammad Lufti has announced. Previously, only 20 percent of CPO had to be retained for domestic markets.
Lutfi said the regulation will be enacted from Wednesday 9th March 2022 and will be enforced starting tomorrow, Thursday 10th March 2022.
“We will determine it today and apply tomorrow. All those who want to export must submit a domestic market obligation of 30 percent,” said Lutfi at the Cooking Oil Policy Press Conference on Wednesday 9th March 2022.
Lutfi explained that this step was being taken because the distribution of raw materials for the cooking oil industry is still not normal.
“There are still many shortages in the market. Distribution is not perfect. Therefore, we ensure that the cooking oil industry has sufficient stock so that this normal situation can be achieved immediately,” said Lutfi.
The CPO DMO policy, said Lutfi, will be enforced until the situation returns to normal.
Lutfi explained that from 14th February to 8th March 2022, the export of CPO and its derivatives reached 2,771,294 tons. 126 export approvals were issued to 54 exporters in the same period.
“Thus, the DMO we collected 20.7 percent amounted to 573,890 tons. The total DMO was distributed 415,787 tons in the form of bulk and packaged cooking oil to the market. This exceeds the estimated monthly consumption needs of 327,321 tons. This is what I call abundant oil,” he said.