Palm oil news August 2026
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August 15, 2026
'Our resources, our prices': Indonesia's Prabowo announces new commodity bourse
JAKARTA, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto announced a plan on Friday to create a new exchange that will set prices for the country's strategic commodities by the start of next year, in a fresh gambit to leverage the country's vast natural resources to boost growth.
Since taking office in 2024, Prabowo has pushed policies that expand state influence over critical minerals in the resource-rich nation, a major global supplier of palm oil, nickel products and thermal coal, as well as copper, bauxite and natural gas.
The announcement, made during Prabowo's speech on his 2027 budget proposal, followed remarks to reassure markets over the role of a new state export firm, Danantara Sumberdaya Indonesia, which will monitor key commodity shipments, but would not take control of exports.
"If they don't want to pay the prices we set, then don't buy them," Prabowo said in a fiery speech in parliament. "Better to keep those commodities, nickel, tin, gold in the ground for our children, grandchildren," he added.
"Our coal, our gas, our oil... let them remain in the ground. We drink the coffee ourselves."
The exchange for strategic minerals and commodities is expected to be operational by January 1, 2027 to develop reference prices for Indonesia's main commodity exports, Prabowo said.
Rules for the new bourse will be introduced by September 17, the chief of Indonesia's Financial Services Authority, which will oversees the commodity exchange, Friderica Widyasari Dewi told journalists later.
Prabowo used his Independence Day speeches to highlight his plan to secure more revenue from Indonesia's natural resources, at a time when his approval rating is falling and there is growing investor scepticism over his ambitious policies and plans to control commodity exports.
Indonesia launched a palm oil bourse in 2023, but transactions remain light.
Past efforts by regional and global exchanges to develop alternative palm oil futures have done little to dent Bursa Malaysia Derivatives' dominance as the global price setter.
Indonesia also has exchanges for tin products.
"Indonesia must not forever remain a country where commodities are extracted while their prices and profits are determined elsewhere," he said. "We do not merely want to be a global producer of commodities; we must become a price-setter."
Prabowo did not elaborate which commodities will be included in the new bourse.
'CHEATED NO MORE'
Global commodity markets were rattled in May when Prabowo unveiled his plan to centralise exports of palm oil, coal and ferroalloy under DSI to tackle under-invoicing, and investors have since sought clarity over the scope of DSI's role.
"We do not want the Indonesian people to be cheated anymore," he told parliament on Friday, saying that the new export entity had identified a potential $5 billion in export proceeds from differences in reported and actual prices.
Prabowo said that in its first two months of operation, DSI has monitored more than 6,500 transactions for the three key commodities and overseen $14 billion in exports.
Soon, this monitoring would expand to cover 50 ports and, "in the short term, DSI will manage all strategic commodity exports, not only three," the president said.
In a report after the speech, Bank Danamon analyst Irman Faiz said it would be important "to ensure that tighter oversight does not increase transaction costs for exporters or discourage private investment".
One Singapore-based metals trader, who asked not to be named as they were not authorised to speak to media, said they would prefer not to use the new bourse.
"Personally I don't think the market will use it unless specific export rules are associated."
PROBLEMS NOT YET RESOLVED
Prabowo also acknowledged Indonesia had encountered issues during his term, but said those were on the way to being addressed.
He said investment is still growing and creating jobs and economic growth could reach 6% by the end of the year.
Prabowo took office in October 2024 after a sweeping election victory built on promises to root out corruption, lift economic growth from 5% to 8% and give free meals to tens of millions of children.
But his administration has struggled this year with a depreciating rupiah and a poorly performing stock market, as well as concerns over government overspending and central bank independence.
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/indonesias-prabowo-present-high-stakes-budget-plans-support-slips-2026-08-13/
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How Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay are building EUDR compliance
From field to port
The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) comes into force at the end of 2026. Its goal is straightforward: European companies that import soy, beef, palm oil, cocoa, coffee, rubber, or wood must be able to prove that their products did not contribute to deforestation after 31 December 2020. If they cannot, the goods stay outside the EU market. Penalties for non-compliance can reach up to 4% of annual EU turnover. The regulation was delayed twice after pressure from exporting countries and EU industry groups, but the extra year is already being used—and the clock is still ticking.
For Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay, EUDR mainly bites on three export pillars: soy, beef, and wood products. Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay are heavily exposed through soy and cattle supply chains, while Chile’s exposure is strongest in forestry and wood-based exports. Under EUDR, all these commodities face the same core requirement: each shipment must be traceable back to the plot of land where it was produced, with geolocation coordinates, satellite evidence of no deforestation since 2020, proof of legal land use, and documentation on labor rights and indigenous communities.
Why the Netherlands is not a bystander
When most people picture the Dutch role in global agricultural trade, they think of flowers, dairy, or vegetables. What they less often picture is soy. Yet the Netherlands is the second-largest destination for soybean imports from the Mercosur region within the EU, receiving around 15% of all shipments—behind only Spain. For soy meal, used extensively in compound animal feed, the Dutch share rises to 16% of total EU imports. The feed sector depends on South American soy as a protein ingredient that cannot easily be substituted at scale.
The Mercosur region produces more than half of the world’s soy. Brazil is the largest supplier, but Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay together provide a substantial and strategically important share. For Dutch companies, this means that every kilogram of soy, every ton of beef, and every cubic metre of wood from these countries will soon need to arrive with a robust digital passport. The paperwork is formidable, and many of the systems needed to generate it did not exist two years ago.
EUDR Country Risk Results for Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile
The EU’s EUDR countryrisk classification sorts all countries into low, standard, or high risk, determining how strict duediligence and customs checks will be. Lowrisk countries benefit from simplified procedures (1% inspections), while standard and highrisk countries must meet full duediligence requirements; the only difference is inspection intensity (3% vs. 9%).
In the benchmarking, Argentina and Paraguay are placed in the standardrisk tier. Both governments objected, especially because the EUMercosur agreement explicitly states that the trade deal should be “favorably considered” in EUDR risk assessments. Still, the Commission pointed to persistent deforestation pressures:
Argentina continues to experience forest loss in the Gran Chaco, one of the world’s fastestshrinking dry forests.
Paraguay has a longstanding zerodeforestation law in the east, but Global Forest Watch data shows that overall national deforestation remains among the highest globally, driven mainly by expansion in the Chaco for cattle ranching and ongoing illegal clearing.
By contrast, Uruguay and Chile received a lowrisk designation, reflecting their comparatively low deforestation rates and stronger forest governance systems.
https://www.agroberichtenbuitenland.nl/actueel/nieuws/2026/08/14/how-argentina-chile-paraguay-and-uruguay-are-building-eudr-compliance
'Our resources, our prices': Indonesia's Prabowo announces new commodity bourse
- New bourse targets Jan 1 launch to develop reference prices for key commodities
- Prabowo: Accept Indonesian pricing or leave resources undeveloped
- DSI oversaw 6,500 transactions, worth $14 bln since June
- The firm will soon monitor 50 ports, other commodities
- Prabowo acknowledges problems, but says those are starting to be fixed
JAKARTA, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto announced a plan on Friday to create a new exchange that will set prices for the country's strategic commodities by the start of next year, in a fresh gambit to leverage the country's vast natural resources to boost growth.
Since taking office in 2024, Prabowo has pushed policies that expand state influence over critical minerals in the resource-rich nation, a major global supplier of palm oil, nickel products and thermal coal, as well as copper, bauxite and natural gas.
The announcement, made during Prabowo's speech on his 2027 budget proposal, followed remarks to reassure markets over the role of a new state export firm, Danantara Sumberdaya Indonesia, which will monitor key commodity shipments, but would not take control of exports.
"If they don't want to pay the prices we set, then don't buy them," Prabowo said in a fiery speech in parliament. "Better to keep those commodities, nickel, tin, gold in the ground for our children, grandchildren," he added.
"Our coal, our gas, our oil... let them remain in the ground. We drink the coffee ourselves."
The exchange for strategic minerals and commodities is expected to be operational by January 1, 2027 to develop reference prices for Indonesia's main commodity exports, Prabowo said.
Rules for the new bourse will be introduced by September 17, the chief of Indonesia's Financial Services Authority, which will oversees the commodity exchange, Friderica Widyasari Dewi told journalists later.
Prabowo used his Independence Day speeches to highlight his plan to secure more revenue from Indonesia's natural resources, at a time when his approval rating is falling and there is growing investor scepticism over his ambitious policies and plans to control commodity exports.
Indonesia launched a palm oil bourse in 2023, but transactions remain light.
Past efforts by regional and global exchanges to develop alternative palm oil futures have done little to dent Bursa Malaysia Derivatives' dominance as the global price setter.
Indonesia also has exchanges for tin products.
"Indonesia must not forever remain a country where commodities are extracted while their prices and profits are determined elsewhere," he said. "We do not merely want to be a global producer of commodities; we must become a price-setter."
Prabowo did not elaborate which commodities will be included in the new bourse.
'CHEATED NO MORE'
Global commodity markets were rattled in May when Prabowo unveiled his plan to centralise exports of palm oil, coal and ferroalloy under DSI to tackle under-invoicing, and investors have since sought clarity over the scope of DSI's role.
"We do not want the Indonesian people to be cheated anymore," he told parliament on Friday, saying that the new export entity had identified a potential $5 billion in export proceeds from differences in reported and actual prices.
Prabowo said that in its first two months of operation, DSI has monitored more than 6,500 transactions for the three key commodities and overseen $14 billion in exports.
Soon, this monitoring would expand to cover 50 ports and, "in the short term, DSI will manage all strategic commodity exports, not only three," the president said.
In a report after the speech, Bank Danamon analyst Irman Faiz said it would be important "to ensure that tighter oversight does not increase transaction costs for exporters or discourage private investment".
One Singapore-based metals trader, who asked not to be named as they were not authorised to speak to media, said they would prefer not to use the new bourse.
"Personally I don't think the market will use it unless specific export rules are associated."
PROBLEMS NOT YET RESOLVED
Prabowo also acknowledged Indonesia had encountered issues during his term, but said those were on the way to being addressed.
He said investment is still growing and creating jobs and economic growth could reach 6% by the end of the year.
Prabowo took office in October 2024 after a sweeping election victory built on promises to root out corruption, lift economic growth from 5% to 8% and give free meals to tens of millions of children.
But his administration has struggled this year with a depreciating rupiah and a poorly performing stock market, as well as concerns over government overspending and central bank independence.
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/indonesias-prabowo-present-high-stakes-budget-plans-support-slips-2026-08-13/
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How Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay are building EUDR compliance
From field to port
The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) comes into force at the end of 2026. Its goal is straightforward: European companies that import soy, beef, palm oil, cocoa, coffee, rubber, or wood must be able to prove that their products did not contribute to deforestation after 31 December 2020. If they cannot, the goods stay outside the EU market. Penalties for non-compliance can reach up to 4% of annual EU turnover. The regulation was delayed twice after pressure from exporting countries and EU industry groups, but the extra year is already being used—and the clock is still ticking.
For Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay, EUDR mainly bites on three export pillars: soy, beef, and wood products. Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay are heavily exposed through soy and cattle supply chains, while Chile’s exposure is strongest in forestry and wood-based exports. Under EUDR, all these commodities face the same core requirement: each shipment must be traceable back to the plot of land where it was produced, with geolocation coordinates, satellite evidence of no deforestation since 2020, proof of legal land use, and documentation on labor rights and indigenous communities.
Why the Netherlands is not a bystander
When most people picture the Dutch role in global agricultural trade, they think of flowers, dairy, or vegetables. What they less often picture is soy. Yet the Netherlands is the second-largest destination for soybean imports from the Mercosur region within the EU, receiving around 15% of all shipments—behind only Spain. For soy meal, used extensively in compound animal feed, the Dutch share rises to 16% of total EU imports. The feed sector depends on South American soy as a protein ingredient that cannot easily be substituted at scale.
The Mercosur region produces more than half of the world’s soy. Brazil is the largest supplier, but Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay together provide a substantial and strategically important share. For Dutch companies, this means that every kilogram of soy, every ton of beef, and every cubic metre of wood from these countries will soon need to arrive with a robust digital passport. The paperwork is formidable, and many of the systems needed to generate it did not exist two years ago.
EUDR Country Risk Results for Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile
The EU’s EUDR countryrisk classification sorts all countries into low, standard, or high risk, determining how strict duediligence and customs checks will be. Lowrisk countries benefit from simplified procedures (1% inspections), while standard and highrisk countries must meet full duediligence requirements; the only difference is inspection intensity (3% vs. 9%).
In the benchmarking, Argentina and Paraguay are placed in the standardrisk tier. Both governments objected, especially because the EUMercosur agreement explicitly states that the trade deal should be “favorably considered” in EUDR risk assessments. Still, the Commission pointed to persistent deforestation pressures:
Argentina continues to experience forest loss in the Gran Chaco, one of the world’s fastestshrinking dry forests.
Paraguay has a longstanding zerodeforestation law in the east, but Global Forest Watch data shows that overall national deforestation remains among the highest globally, driven mainly by expansion in the Chaco for cattle ranching and ongoing illegal clearing.
By contrast, Uruguay and Chile received a lowrisk designation, reflecting their comparatively low deforestation rates and stronger forest governance systems.
https://www.agroberichtenbuitenland.nl/actueel/nieuws/2026/08/14/how-argentina-chile-paraguay-and-uruguay-are-building-eudr-compliance
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August 14, 2026
Indonesia’s Prabowo Subianto retreats on commodities reform amid market pressure
State-owned agency had threatened to shake up trade of nickel, thermal coal and palm oil
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has climbed down on some of his flagship policies that have worried investors amid a market rout that has erased a quarter of value from the country’s stock market.
In a wide-ranging state address to parliament on Friday, Prabowo said the state-owned commodities export agency that he established in May to control exports of critical resources would just monitor transactions instead of making actual trades.
The export commodity agency, if implemented as originally planned, would have overhauled trade in the world’s largest exporter of nickel, thermal coal and palm oil and affected global commodities trading houses.
The agency will be “the sole processing point for Indonesian commodity exports”, said Prabowo. “I repeat, the processing, not one company controlling commodities and exporting. But now, we can monitor.”
Indonesia’s benchmark stock index rose 1 per cent on Friday. Mining companies, including Vale Indonesia, Alamtri Resources and Aneka Tambang, saw some of the biggest gains.
The index has declined 26 per cent this year due to concerns over Prabowo’s policies and warnings of a potential downgrade from index providers. The rupiah currency has also lost 6 per cent.
Prabowo said the agency had identified potential savings of $5bn arising from pricing discrepancies. The president had cited alleged export fraud and under-invoicing as grounds for establishing the agency.
“We no longer want the Indonesian people to be cheated,” he said. “The goods belong to us while others determine the price.” The agency would soon expand oversight into all commodities, Prabowo added.
He also vowed improvements to a signature scheme to provide free meals nationwide to combat child malnutrition. The programme has been wracked with allegations of corruption and incidents of food poisoning, and has triggered concerns that its cost — of $12.8bn, already cut from an initial figure of $28bn — could undermine Indonesia’s fiscal strength.
“I am determined to continue [the free meals] programme, but with improvements and efficiency,” Prabowo said, adding that “those who commit corruption from children’s meals are barbaric”.
The president will deliver a second address outlining his government’s budget plans for 2027 later on Friday.
Concerns about Prabowo’s expensive welfare plans, policy unpredictability and state interventionism have hit investor sentiment, with Indonesian assets some of the world’s worst performers this year.
“I cannot yet say that all the nation’s problems have been resolved, or that every promise I made has been fulfilled,” said Prabowo, a former general, who took office in October 2024. “Not yet.”
The discontent has also hit the president’s popularity and sparked protests in parts of the country. A July poll by Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting showed that public satisfaction with Prabowo had dropped to 51 per cent, from about 81 per cent late last year.
Prabowo promised to boost growth to about 6 per cent this year, above last year’s figure of 5.1 per cent but still below his campaign pledge to lift growth to 8 per cent during his term.
“With the right, rational and sensible policies, I’m confident our economic growth can reach 6 per cent by the end of this year. But for me, growth and investment are not the ultimate goal. Our goal is the wellbeing of our people,” he said.
Despite the walk-back, Prabowo reiterated his commitment to some of his other policies, including a crackdown on alleged illegal mining and corruption.
He specifically targeted the state-owned sector, where he accused some groups of being “irresponsible” and “unproductive”.
He said 290 state-owned enterprises had been shut down during his term, and more closures were planned. Prabowo said the government had a target of 300 SOEs from the current level of 1,074.
https://www.ft.com/content/c061415a-791d-42e5-9907-736563c7f938?syn-25a6b1a6=1
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Red Palm Oil has the Potential to be a Driver of Industrialization and Village Economy
JAKARTA - Improving nutritional quality is an important agenda in realizing a healthy and productive society. Red palm oil has great potential to answer this challenge.
Professor of the Faculty of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, IPB University, Prof. Endang Prangdimurti, said that red palm oil contains many nutrients that are beneficial for body health. This oil has a high content of tocopherols, tocotrienols, to carotenoids.
Red palm oil also contains three elements that are very important for human body health, namely pro-vitamin A, vitamin E, and squalene. If optimized properly, red palm oil can be a solution to the problem of stunting in Indonesia.
It is worth noting, the content of pro-vitamin A plays an important role in regulating genes for growth hormone as well as maintaining the body's immune system and preventing digestive infections. Then squalene functions in the formation of good cholesterol which is an important factor for brain development.
"So, indeed, this red palm oil has very high nutritional content," he said in Jakarta, Thursday (13/8/2026).
Endang Prangdimurti appealed for red palm oil products to be presented in the form of supplements such as capsules or syrup. He emphasized, presenting the product as a supplement because red palm oil has many benefits for human health.
The health benefits of red palm oil include its ability to prevent and reduce cardiovascular disease to prevent cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
"The presentation of red palm oil products can be like fish oil. So, red palm oil is consumed by humans for supplements," he said.
He hopes that if red palm oil is produced in the form of a supplement, it will be better accepted by the public.
He encouraged that the consumption of red palm oil could be further increased so that the public could feel the health benefits of the product.
Until now, the government through the Palm Oil Fund Management Agency (BPDP) has continued to encourage palm oil innovation and the development of palm oil downstream products with added value through palm oil plantation research and development programs. One of the flagship downstream products that has great potential is red palm oil.
"Hopefully, with various improvements, red palm oil products can be more accepted by the public," he hoped.
Chairman of the Strategic Socio-Economic Kader Association (AKSES), Suroto, hopes that red palm oil products can be distributed through the network of the Red and White Village Cooperative (KDMP) so that they can reach the community more widely. He agrees that red palm oil products have many benefits for the body's health.
Suroto hopes that the formation of a good red palm oil industry ecosystem will grow new economic pockets in villages, especially around palm oil plantations and factories. He believes that if red palm oil products can be produced on a home industry scale, it will encourage economic equality in Indonesia.
"We hope that flagship products such as red palm oil will emerge from household industries in various regions. We hope that KDMP can become a business network and promotional space for these flagship products," he hoped.
https://voi.id/en/economy/589460
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Palm Oil in Your Biscuits and Namkeen? Centre Says It’s Safe, Legal Under FSSAI Rules
Amid questions over palm oil in processed foods, the government says it is a standardised edible oil permitted in packaged products under FSSAI regulations, while manufacturers must clearly disclose its use on labels
Palm oil may have become one of the most debated ingredients on packaged-food labels, but the Centre has made its regulatory position clear: its use in food is permitted under India's safety standards.
Responding to questions in Parliament over the use of palm oil in products such as biscuits, snacks and namkeen, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Prataprao Jadhav said it is classified as a standardised edible fat under Food Safety and Standards Authority of India regulations. The government's argument rests on two points: palm oil is permitted, and consumers must be told when it is being used.
What does FSSAI say about palm oil?
Under Sub-regulation 2.2 of the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011, palm oil is classified as a standardised edible fat. That means food manufacturers are permitted to use it as an edible-oil ingredient in packaged products, including bakery items, snacks and savouries, provided they comply with prescribed standards. Palm oil is regulated by FSSAI under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
How does the government decide whether it is safe?
Jadhav said India's food-safety standards are based on scientific assessments conducted by independent risk-assessment bodies, including FSSAI's Scientific Panels and Scientific Committee. The standards are also harmonised with internationally recognised Codex Alimentarius norms. “The FBOs are mandated to comply with the defined standards,” Jadhav said, adding that food-safety standards are based on scientific opinion and internationally accepted Codex standards. The Centre's clarification is significant because it distinguishes the regulatory safety and permissibility of palm oil from the broader debate over the nutritional merits of consuming different fats and heavily processed foods.
https://openthemagazine.com/india/palm-oil-in-your-biscuits-and-namkeen-centre-says-its-safe-legal-under-fssai-rules
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PNG’s declining agricultural output requires a return to commercial production
Papua New Guinea’s agricultural production has been in steady decline for more than two decades, and continued emphasis on policies and legislation will not reverse the trend without a fundamental change in how farming is carried out on the ground.
The decline began around 1990 with the Bougainville crisis, low world commodity prices and the weakening of government research and extension services. Since then, successive governments — those of Grand Chief Michael Somare, Peter O’Neill and now James Marape — have tried interventions including the National Agriculture Development Plan (NADP), the Productive Partnerships in Agriculture Project (PPAP), the Papua New Guinea Agricultural Commercialisation and Diversification (PACD) project, the Agriculture Commercialisation Policy and the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Credit Scheme. The World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC)were brought in to fund several of these interventions from 2010 to 2025. The results have been dismal.
Agriculture thrived from the colonial era through the first 15 years of independence. Annual output then reached 5,000 tonnes of rubber, 150,000 head of cattle, 150 tonnes of honey, one million green bean bags of coffee, 100,000 tonnes of coconut and 50,000 tonnes of cocoa.
This was sustained by a commercial backbone: the plantation system, the World Bank and later Asian Development Bank-funded Agriculture Settlement Scheme (semi-commercial farms for nationals), the Chan Government’s 10–20 hectare blocks of the 1980s, and Agriculture Management Companies and Agriculture Bank loans tied to commercial farming. Blocks employed 20 to 50 workers each, while plantations employed thousands of people — Ramu Sugar 6,000, New Britain Palm Oil 25,000, Carpenter’s 3,000, Mainland Holdings 2,000, Zenag 1,500, Agmark 1,500, Galley Reach 1,200, Colbran 1,000 and Hargy 2,000 (data from a Farmers and Settlers Association member survey in 2022) — with thousands more in supplier businesses. Crucially, plantations, blocks and settlement schemes supplied seeds, training, employment and reliable buying outlets for surrounding smallholders.
That ecosystem has gone. Across the 25 years from 2000 to 2025, despite funding through the Public Investment Program (PIP), functional grants, the Agriculture Commercialisation Fund, the SME Credit Scheme and the World Bank’s PPAP and PACD programs, 2025 figures put rubber exports at 3,100 tonnes; coconut at 94,216 tonnes; coffee at 789,000 green bean bags; and cocoa at 53,000 tonnes (Farmers and Settlers Association figures based on PNG Customs export data for 2025). For oil palm, FAO and industry sources place output at 600,000 to 700,000 tonnes a year and continuing to grow. A Farmers and Settlers Association industry survey in 2022 puts cattle at 46,000 head and honey at 80 tonnes. It should be noted ihere are concerns about the reliability of industry statistics issued by the various commodity boards rather than the National Statistical Office. The FAO has done projections, while the Department of Agriculture and Livestock has not provided any production or export statistics for the World Bank Agriculture Partnership Program funded from 2010 to 2025.
In short, only oil palm is increasing in acreage, production and employment.
Prices for most crops have tripled or quadrupled, but production has not doubled. Smallholders growing rubber, coffee, coconut or cocoa do so on a subsistence basis. There is no shortage of land in Waghi, Arona, Markham or Cape Rodney, and the people are not lazy. They run kaukau, taro, tapioca and banana gardens for their own consumption and sell enough to meet immediate education or health costs. Ask them to plant more and they decline — they are content and they do not go hungry. The way to double or triple output is to emulate the settlement scheme, block and plantation model that once anchored the sector.
Commodity boards were nominally geared to smallholders, but the volume, productivity, employment, innovation and buying support actually came from plantations and blocks. The Prime Minister is a strong advocate of evidence-based decision making, and the evidence is plain: the PIP, functional grants, World Bank and IFC loans through PPAP and PACD, commodity-board levies and an expanded SME Credit Scheme have all provided resources — yet production and sector employment have fallen.
https://devpolicy.org/pngs-declining-agricultural-output-requires-a-return-to-commercial-production-20260814/
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Indonesia’s Prabowo Subianto retreats on commodities reform amid market pressure
State-owned agency had threatened to shake up trade of nickel, thermal coal and palm oil
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has climbed down on some of his flagship policies that have worried investors amid a market rout that has erased a quarter of value from the country’s stock market.
In a wide-ranging state address to parliament on Friday, Prabowo said the state-owned commodities export agency that he established in May to control exports of critical resources would just monitor transactions instead of making actual trades.
The export commodity agency, if implemented as originally planned, would have overhauled trade in the world’s largest exporter of nickel, thermal coal and palm oil and affected global commodities trading houses.
The agency will be “the sole processing point for Indonesian commodity exports”, said Prabowo. “I repeat, the processing, not one company controlling commodities and exporting. But now, we can monitor.”
Indonesia’s benchmark stock index rose 1 per cent on Friday. Mining companies, including Vale Indonesia, Alamtri Resources and Aneka Tambang, saw some of the biggest gains.
The index has declined 26 per cent this year due to concerns over Prabowo’s policies and warnings of a potential downgrade from index providers. The rupiah currency has also lost 6 per cent.
Prabowo said the agency had identified potential savings of $5bn arising from pricing discrepancies. The president had cited alleged export fraud and under-invoicing as grounds for establishing the agency.
“We no longer want the Indonesian people to be cheated,” he said. “The goods belong to us while others determine the price.” The agency would soon expand oversight into all commodities, Prabowo added.
He also vowed improvements to a signature scheme to provide free meals nationwide to combat child malnutrition. The programme has been wracked with allegations of corruption and incidents of food poisoning, and has triggered concerns that its cost — of $12.8bn, already cut from an initial figure of $28bn — could undermine Indonesia’s fiscal strength.
“I am determined to continue [the free meals] programme, but with improvements and efficiency,” Prabowo said, adding that “those who commit corruption from children’s meals are barbaric”.
The president will deliver a second address outlining his government’s budget plans for 2027 later on Friday.
Concerns about Prabowo’s expensive welfare plans, policy unpredictability and state interventionism have hit investor sentiment, with Indonesian assets some of the world’s worst performers this year.
“I cannot yet say that all the nation’s problems have been resolved, or that every promise I made has been fulfilled,” said Prabowo, a former general, who took office in October 2024. “Not yet.”
The discontent has also hit the president’s popularity and sparked protests in parts of the country. A July poll by Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting showed that public satisfaction with Prabowo had dropped to 51 per cent, from about 81 per cent late last year.
Prabowo promised to boost growth to about 6 per cent this year, above last year’s figure of 5.1 per cent but still below his campaign pledge to lift growth to 8 per cent during his term.
“With the right, rational and sensible policies, I’m confident our economic growth can reach 6 per cent by the end of this year. But for me, growth and investment are not the ultimate goal. Our goal is the wellbeing of our people,” he said.
Despite the walk-back, Prabowo reiterated his commitment to some of his other policies, including a crackdown on alleged illegal mining and corruption.
He specifically targeted the state-owned sector, where he accused some groups of being “irresponsible” and “unproductive”.
He said 290 state-owned enterprises had been shut down during his term, and more closures were planned. Prabowo said the government had a target of 300 SOEs from the current level of 1,074.
https://www.ft.com/content/c061415a-791d-42e5-9907-736563c7f938?syn-25a6b1a6=1
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Red Palm Oil has the Potential to be a Driver of Industrialization and Village Economy
JAKARTA - Improving nutritional quality is an important agenda in realizing a healthy and productive society. Red palm oil has great potential to answer this challenge.
Professor of the Faculty of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, IPB University, Prof. Endang Prangdimurti, said that red palm oil contains many nutrients that are beneficial for body health. This oil has a high content of tocopherols, tocotrienols, to carotenoids.
Red palm oil also contains three elements that are very important for human body health, namely pro-vitamin A, vitamin E, and squalene. If optimized properly, red palm oil can be a solution to the problem of stunting in Indonesia.
It is worth noting, the content of pro-vitamin A plays an important role in regulating genes for growth hormone as well as maintaining the body's immune system and preventing digestive infections. Then squalene functions in the formation of good cholesterol which is an important factor for brain development.
"So, indeed, this red palm oil has very high nutritional content," he said in Jakarta, Thursday (13/8/2026).
Endang Prangdimurti appealed for red palm oil products to be presented in the form of supplements such as capsules or syrup. He emphasized, presenting the product as a supplement because red palm oil has many benefits for human health.
The health benefits of red palm oil include its ability to prevent and reduce cardiovascular disease to prevent cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
"The presentation of red palm oil products can be like fish oil. So, red palm oil is consumed by humans for supplements," he said.
He hopes that if red palm oil is produced in the form of a supplement, it will be better accepted by the public.
He encouraged that the consumption of red palm oil could be further increased so that the public could feel the health benefits of the product.
Until now, the government through the Palm Oil Fund Management Agency (BPDP) has continued to encourage palm oil innovation and the development of palm oil downstream products with added value through palm oil plantation research and development programs. One of the flagship downstream products that has great potential is red palm oil.
"Hopefully, with various improvements, red palm oil products can be more accepted by the public," he hoped.
Chairman of the Strategic Socio-Economic Kader Association (AKSES), Suroto, hopes that red palm oil products can be distributed through the network of the Red and White Village Cooperative (KDMP) so that they can reach the community more widely. He agrees that red palm oil products have many benefits for the body's health.
Suroto hopes that the formation of a good red palm oil industry ecosystem will grow new economic pockets in villages, especially around palm oil plantations and factories. He believes that if red palm oil products can be produced on a home industry scale, it will encourage economic equality in Indonesia.
"We hope that flagship products such as red palm oil will emerge from household industries in various regions. We hope that KDMP can become a business network and promotional space for these flagship products," he hoped.
https://voi.id/en/economy/589460
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Palm Oil in Your Biscuits and Namkeen? Centre Says It’s Safe, Legal Under FSSAI Rules
Amid questions over palm oil in processed foods, the government says it is a standardised edible oil permitted in packaged products under FSSAI regulations, while manufacturers must clearly disclose its use on labels
Palm oil may have become one of the most debated ingredients on packaged-food labels, but the Centre has made its regulatory position clear: its use in food is permitted under India's safety standards.
Responding to questions in Parliament over the use of palm oil in products such as biscuits, snacks and namkeen, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Prataprao Jadhav said it is classified as a standardised edible fat under Food Safety and Standards Authority of India regulations. The government's argument rests on two points: palm oil is permitted, and consumers must be told when it is being used.
What does FSSAI say about palm oil?
Under Sub-regulation 2.2 of the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011, palm oil is classified as a standardised edible fat. That means food manufacturers are permitted to use it as an edible-oil ingredient in packaged products, including bakery items, snacks and savouries, provided they comply with prescribed standards. Palm oil is regulated by FSSAI under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.
How does the government decide whether it is safe?
Jadhav said India's food-safety standards are based on scientific assessments conducted by independent risk-assessment bodies, including FSSAI's Scientific Panels and Scientific Committee. The standards are also harmonised with internationally recognised Codex Alimentarius norms. “The FBOs are mandated to comply with the defined standards,” Jadhav said, adding that food-safety standards are based on scientific opinion and internationally accepted Codex standards. The Centre's clarification is significant because it distinguishes the regulatory safety and permissibility of palm oil from the broader debate over the nutritional merits of consuming different fats and heavily processed foods.
https://openthemagazine.com/india/palm-oil-in-your-biscuits-and-namkeen-centre-says-its-safe-legal-under-fssai-rules
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PNG’s declining agricultural output requires a return to commercial production
Papua New Guinea’s agricultural production has been in steady decline for more than two decades, and continued emphasis on policies and legislation will not reverse the trend without a fundamental change in how farming is carried out on the ground.
The decline began around 1990 with the Bougainville crisis, low world commodity prices and the weakening of government research and extension services. Since then, successive governments — those of Grand Chief Michael Somare, Peter O’Neill and now James Marape — have tried interventions including the National Agriculture Development Plan (NADP), the Productive Partnerships in Agriculture Project (PPAP), the Papua New Guinea Agricultural Commercialisation and Diversification (PACD) project, the Agriculture Commercialisation Policy and the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Credit Scheme. The World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC)were brought in to fund several of these interventions from 2010 to 2025. The results have been dismal.
Agriculture thrived from the colonial era through the first 15 years of independence. Annual output then reached 5,000 tonnes of rubber, 150,000 head of cattle, 150 tonnes of honey, one million green bean bags of coffee, 100,000 tonnes of coconut and 50,000 tonnes of cocoa.
This was sustained by a commercial backbone: the plantation system, the World Bank and later Asian Development Bank-funded Agriculture Settlement Scheme (semi-commercial farms for nationals), the Chan Government’s 10–20 hectare blocks of the 1980s, and Agriculture Management Companies and Agriculture Bank loans tied to commercial farming. Blocks employed 20 to 50 workers each, while plantations employed thousands of people — Ramu Sugar 6,000, New Britain Palm Oil 25,000, Carpenter’s 3,000, Mainland Holdings 2,000, Zenag 1,500, Agmark 1,500, Galley Reach 1,200, Colbran 1,000 and Hargy 2,000 (data from a Farmers and Settlers Association member survey in 2022) — with thousands more in supplier businesses. Crucially, plantations, blocks and settlement schemes supplied seeds, training, employment and reliable buying outlets for surrounding smallholders.
That ecosystem has gone. Across the 25 years from 2000 to 2025, despite funding through the Public Investment Program (PIP), functional grants, the Agriculture Commercialisation Fund, the SME Credit Scheme and the World Bank’s PPAP and PACD programs, 2025 figures put rubber exports at 3,100 tonnes; coconut at 94,216 tonnes; coffee at 789,000 green bean bags; and cocoa at 53,000 tonnes (Farmers and Settlers Association figures based on PNG Customs export data for 2025). For oil palm, FAO and industry sources place output at 600,000 to 700,000 tonnes a year and continuing to grow. A Farmers and Settlers Association industry survey in 2022 puts cattle at 46,000 head and honey at 80 tonnes. It should be noted ihere are concerns about the reliability of industry statistics issued by the various commodity boards rather than the National Statistical Office. The FAO has done projections, while the Department of Agriculture and Livestock has not provided any production or export statistics for the World Bank Agriculture Partnership Program funded from 2010 to 2025.
In short, only oil palm is increasing in acreage, production and employment.
Prices for most crops have tripled or quadrupled, but production has not doubled. Smallholders growing rubber, coffee, coconut or cocoa do so on a subsistence basis. There is no shortage of land in Waghi, Arona, Markham or Cape Rodney, and the people are not lazy. They run kaukau, taro, tapioca and banana gardens for their own consumption and sell enough to meet immediate education or health costs. Ask them to plant more and they decline — they are content and they do not go hungry. The way to double or triple output is to emulate the settlement scheme, block and plantation model that once anchored the sector.
Commodity boards were nominally geared to smallholders, but the volume, productivity, employment, innovation and buying support actually came from plantations and blocks. The Prime Minister is a strong advocate of evidence-based decision making, and the evidence is plain: the PIP, functional grants, World Bank and IFC loans through PPAP and PACD, commodity-board levies and an expanded SME Credit Scheme have all provided resources — yet production and sector employment have fallen.
https://devpolicy.org/pngs-declining-agricultural-output-requires-a-return-to-commercial-production-20260814/
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August 13, 2026
Palm oil to cool data centres? Malaysia explores option as water demand surges
However, the proposal has raised concerns that it could lead to an expansion of palm plantations and create an environmental burden
Malaysia is taking palm oil from the frying pan to server racks, as it banks on its biggest agricultural commodity to crack a code plaguing its data centre boom – keeping servers cool.
Researchers at the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) are developing a palm-based liquid to cool computer servers without relying on copious volumes of water, as the country grapples with high resource demands to support its rapidly expanding digital infrastructure.
The new approach – termed the Sawit EcoTherm technology by the government agency – is nearing commercialisation.
As of January, data centres were using 28.68 million litres (7.6 million gallons) of water a day, according to the National Water Services Commission.
But the palm oil technology has raised the question of whether a green solution for data centres would create new pressures further down the supply chain. Experts say this hinges on where palm oil sources are derived and if existing plantations can meet demand or result in more land clearance.
Noor Khairin Mohd, a MPOB senior research officer, said the coolant research had been tested in an operational environment, with a licensing agreement being finalised with a local manufacturer.
Citing the needs of a 100-megawatt data centre, Noor Khairin said palm-based coolant would cost between US$2.44 and US$6.10 per kilogram compared with US$12.20 to US$19.52 for synthetic and petroleum-based alternatives.
Such a data centre could consume between 1.7 and 4.2 million litres of water daily, according to MPOB’s data. In contrast, the Sawit EcoTherm system could eliminate water consumption to cool a data centre.
https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3363811/palm-oil-cool-data-centres-malaysia-explores-option-water-demand-surges
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Canada releases sustainable aviation fuel blueprint
The document reaffirms an earlier target of 10 per cent SAF use by 2030, which could create a massive new market for canola
SASKATOON — The federal government has released a blueprint for the development of a Sustainable Aviation Fuels industry in Canada.
Transport Canada’s blueprint establishes a plan for meeting Canada’s Aviation Climate Action Plan’s goal of 10 per cent SAF use by 2030.
That would require an estimated one billion litres of SAF sourced from a combination of international supply and domestic production.
“Canada has the feedstock, refining expertise, innovation capacity and domestic airlines to create a world-leading industry that contributes to meeting its own needs and those of other jurisdictions,” Transport Canada stated in its blueprint.
Fred Ghatala, president of Advanced Biofuels Canada, welcomed the long-awaited government document.
“The thing that the blueprint brings, and its most important contribution, is momentum. It signals Canadian government attention to this important file,” he said.
“It is a reaffirmation of an aspirational goal of 10 per cent SAF use by 2030.”
Ghatala said that if canola-based SAF rceived a 50 per cent share of that market, it would create a new annual demand for 2.45 million tonnes of the crop.
He said canola is well suited to the hydrotreating process used to create SAF.
“It’s a major opportunity for Canada. We are a feedstock powerhouse.”
Ghatala said Canada’s Clean Fuel Regulations and British Columbia’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard do not have any exclusions for agricultural feedstocks, and he hopes that holds true for future SAF regulations as well.
“The European Union’s approach to SAF excludes crops like canola,” he said.
Ottawa and B.C. have already implemented some regulations in support of SAF uptake.
“Despite this effort, a consistent Canadian SAF market has not yet developed and is currently emerging at a slower pace than many European countries and the United States, where a combination of regulation and financial incentives are creating a more favourable investment climate,” stated the blueprint.
There is no sustained commercial production in Canada, and global supplies are “far from guaranteed” due to mounting demand for the product.
Ghatala would like other provinces to follow B.C.’s lead. The province has established a one per cent SAF blending requirement starting in 2028, rising to three per cent by 2030.
It has already eclipsed those targets, achieving a 3.9 per cent SAF blend level in 2025 thanks to the province’s Low Carbon Jet Fuel Incentive Program. That amounted to 81 million litres of the biofuel.
One of the core challenges outlined by the federal government is that SAF can be two to eight times more expensive than conventional jet fuel.
“Given that fuel typically accounts for more than 25 per cent of commercial airline operating costs, any significant volume of SAF purchased would be a challenge for airlines (particularly smaller ones) to manage,” stated the blueprint.
In terms of domestic production, the main challenge is that current Canadian policies do not create conditions for a positive operating margin nor a sufficient long-term demand signal.
By comparison, U.S. incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act and at the state level have encouraged billions of dollars in announced projects in that country.
The last big hurdle is the lack of global supply of the product. Available supplies are being usurped by the EU, and the U.S. and Canadian airlines are being forced to pay premiums to import marginal volumes of SAF.
“If global scarcity persists, (Canadian) airlines may struggle to meet existing or future international compliance obligations and could experience decreased global competitiveness,” stated the report.
Transport Canada has proposed seven “pillars of action” to help increase availability and access to SAF in Canada.
One of the pillars is for the government to consider long-term policies that could help de-risk the private sector investment needed to establish domestic SAF production and distribution infrastructure and create demand certainty.
Another pillar is to assess opportunities at high traffic airports (Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary, Montreal and Edmonton) to establish regional pilot SAF supply chains and explore public-private partnerships to build blending facilities.
https://www.producer.com/crops/federal-government-releases-sustainable-aviation-fuel-blueprint/
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$100 Million Lamu Palm Oil Plant Moves towards Finalisation as Kenya Targets Local Processing
The Lamu palm oil plant is advancing toward final investment discussions as Kenya seeks to expand domestic palm oil production and processing. The proposed Ksh12.9 billion ($100 million) project will target Witu Nyangoro Ranch in Lamu County. Moreover, the investment could create about 3,000 jobs while strengthening Kenya’s agricultural processing capacity.
Investment Promotion Principal Secretary Abubakar Hassan said discussions on the project are in their final stages. He made the remarks during a stakeholder meeting on August 10, 2026.
The project responds to Kenya’s heavy dependence on imported palm oil. The country currently spends about $1 billion annually on palm oil imports.
The Lamu palm oil plant will focus on establishing local processing capacity within Kenya’s edible oils industry. The development could support farmers, processors, transporters and other agricultural service providers.
Furthermore, local processing could strengthen connections between primary production and downstream manufacturing. These connections could support food processors, cooking oil manufacturers and consumer goods producers.
https://constructionreviewonline.com/100-million-lamu-palm-oil-plant-moves-towards-finalisation-as-kenya-targets-local-processing/
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Telangana High Court Upholds Cancellation Of Patanjali Foods' Palm Oil Factory Zone Over Failure To Set Up Processing Unit
The Telangana High Court has upheld the State Government's decision to cancel the Suryapet oil palm factory zone allotted to Patanjali Foods Limited, finding that the company failed to establish a processing unit within the stipulated period despite repeated opportunities. [2026 LiveLaw (Tel) 128]
The Court also noted its unsatisfactory performance in achieving the agreed plantation targets.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G.M. Mohiuddin dismissed Patanjali Foods' appeal against a Single Judge's order which had upheld the cancellation.
It held that Patanjali could not claim a legitimate expectation that the allotment would continue indefinitely despite its failure to comply with the obligations under its Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the State wherein under Clause 5(b), the company was required to establish an oil palm processing unit within 24 months of entering into the agreement.
The Court observed:
"Admittedly, the appellant failed to establish the processing unit within the stipulated period and continued to remain in default despite repeated opportunities and extensions afforded by the respondents...The appellant cannot legitimately expect the respondents to indefinitely continue the allotment despite its admitted failure to discharge the obligations undertaken under the 2nd MOA. The continued procurement of FFBs in terms of Clause 15 cannot create a legitimate expectation that the respondents would forbear from exercising the powers available to them under the contractual and statutory framework."
The Court held that the State's action was neither arbitrary nor disproportionate. It noted that the authorities had issued successive show-cause notices, considered the company's explanations and afforded it a personal hearing before cancelling the Suryapet factory zone.
The dispute arose from the cancellation of Patanjali Foods' factory zone in Suryapet District through G.O.Ms.No.13 dated March 15, 2025. Through another Government Order issued on the same day, the zone was re-allotted to respondent No.4. Patanjali challenged both orders before the High Court.
Patanjali has been engaged in oil palm cultivation in the State since 2009, initially through MAC Oil Palm Limited, which was subsequently amalgamated with the company. In 2017, Patanjali entered into a second MOA with the State Government represented by the Commissioner of Horticulture.
Under Clause 5(b) of the MOA, the company was required to establish an oil palm processing unit within 24 months of entering into the agreement. Clause 6 required it to identify and finalise the site for the processing unit within two years from receipt of the final order allotting the zones.
The company was subsequently allotted additional areas in Nalgonda and Suryapet districts. It also furnished an affidavit in June 2021 undertaking to abide by the terms of the MOA for the extended areas.
The authorities issued the first show-cause notice in December 2022, alleging that Patanjali had failed to achieve plantation targets and establish the required processing mill. Further show-cause notices were issued in December 2023 and October 2024.
Patanjali attributed the delays to factors including shortage of planting material, deficit rainfall and fluctuations in market prices. It also informed the authorities that it was taking steps to identify and acquire land for the processing unit. In January and March 2025, it informed the authorities that it had purchased 16.24 acres in Nalgonda District for establishing the mill.
Before the Division Bench, Patanjali argued that Clause 13 of the MOA permitted cancellation only for failure to furnish information and documents sought by the Commissioner of Horticulture. It contended that failure to establish a processing mill within 24 months did not itself attract cancellation.
It relied on Clause 15, which provides that where an occupier fails to commence processing within the stipulated time, it must continue procuring Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFBs) from farmers at Government-notified rates and arrange for their transportation to the nearest processing unit at its own cost. Patanjali submitted that it had complied with this requirement by procuring FFBs from farmers in Suryapet and processing them at its unit in Andhra Pradesh.
Rejecting this interpretation, the Court held that Clauses 13 and 15 operate in "distinct fields". While Clause 15 protects farmers by ensuring uninterrupted procurement pending establishment of the processing unit, Clause 13 provides for regulatory consequences when the occupier fails to demonstrate that effective steps are being taken to comply with its obligations.
The Bench said:
"The requirement of furnishing information and documents is not an end in itself but serves the purpose of enabling the Commissioner to satisfy himself that the occupier is taking effective steps towards fulfilment of the obligations expressly enumerated therein, including establishment of the oil palm processing mill and refinery."
The Court held that Clauses 5(b), 6, 13 and 15 had to be read harmoniously as part of an "integrated contractual framework". Patanjali's 2021 affidavit also expressly acknowledged that failure to comply with the requirements under the MOA could attract forfeiture of its deposit and cancellation of the factory zone.
https://www.livelaw.in/amp/high-court/telangana-high-court/telangana-high-court-upholds-cancellation-patanjali-foods-oil-palm-factory-545526
Palm oil to cool data centres? Malaysia explores option as water demand surges
However, the proposal has raised concerns that it could lead to an expansion of palm plantations and create an environmental burden
Malaysia is taking palm oil from the frying pan to server racks, as it banks on its biggest agricultural commodity to crack a code plaguing its data centre boom – keeping servers cool.
Researchers at the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) are developing a palm-based liquid to cool computer servers without relying on copious volumes of water, as the country grapples with high resource demands to support its rapidly expanding digital infrastructure.
The new approach – termed the Sawit EcoTherm technology by the government agency – is nearing commercialisation.
As of January, data centres were using 28.68 million litres (7.6 million gallons) of water a day, according to the National Water Services Commission.
But the palm oil technology has raised the question of whether a green solution for data centres would create new pressures further down the supply chain. Experts say this hinges on where palm oil sources are derived and if existing plantations can meet demand or result in more land clearance.
Noor Khairin Mohd, a MPOB senior research officer, said the coolant research had been tested in an operational environment, with a licensing agreement being finalised with a local manufacturer.
Citing the needs of a 100-megawatt data centre, Noor Khairin said palm-based coolant would cost between US$2.44 and US$6.10 per kilogram compared with US$12.20 to US$19.52 for synthetic and petroleum-based alternatives.
Such a data centre could consume between 1.7 and 4.2 million litres of water daily, according to MPOB’s data. In contrast, the Sawit EcoTherm system could eliminate water consumption to cool a data centre.
https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3363811/palm-oil-cool-data-centres-malaysia-explores-option-water-demand-surges
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Canada releases sustainable aviation fuel blueprint
The document reaffirms an earlier target of 10 per cent SAF use by 2030, which could create a massive new market for canola
SASKATOON — The federal government has released a blueprint for the development of a Sustainable Aviation Fuels industry in Canada.
Transport Canada’s blueprint establishes a plan for meeting Canada’s Aviation Climate Action Plan’s goal of 10 per cent SAF use by 2030.
That would require an estimated one billion litres of SAF sourced from a combination of international supply and domestic production.
“Canada has the feedstock, refining expertise, innovation capacity and domestic airlines to create a world-leading industry that contributes to meeting its own needs and those of other jurisdictions,” Transport Canada stated in its blueprint.
Fred Ghatala, president of Advanced Biofuels Canada, welcomed the long-awaited government document.
“The thing that the blueprint brings, and its most important contribution, is momentum. It signals Canadian government attention to this important file,” he said.
“It is a reaffirmation of an aspirational goal of 10 per cent SAF use by 2030.”
Ghatala said that if canola-based SAF rceived a 50 per cent share of that market, it would create a new annual demand for 2.45 million tonnes of the crop.
He said canola is well suited to the hydrotreating process used to create SAF.
“It’s a major opportunity for Canada. We are a feedstock powerhouse.”
Ghatala said Canada’s Clean Fuel Regulations and British Columbia’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard do not have any exclusions for agricultural feedstocks, and he hopes that holds true for future SAF regulations as well.
“The European Union’s approach to SAF excludes crops like canola,” he said.
Ottawa and B.C. have already implemented some regulations in support of SAF uptake.
“Despite this effort, a consistent Canadian SAF market has not yet developed and is currently emerging at a slower pace than many European countries and the United States, where a combination of regulation and financial incentives are creating a more favourable investment climate,” stated the blueprint.
There is no sustained commercial production in Canada, and global supplies are “far from guaranteed” due to mounting demand for the product.
Ghatala would like other provinces to follow B.C.’s lead. The province has established a one per cent SAF blending requirement starting in 2028, rising to three per cent by 2030.
It has already eclipsed those targets, achieving a 3.9 per cent SAF blend level in 2025 thanks to the province’s Low Carbon Jet Fuel Incentive Program. That amounted to 81 million litres of the biofuel.
One of the core challenges outlined by the federal government is that SAF can be two to eight times more expensive than conventional jet fuel.
“Given that fuel typically accounts for more than 25 per cent of commercial airline operating costs, any significant volume of SAF purchased would be a challenge for airlines (particularly smaller ones) to manage,” stated the blueprint.
In terms of domestic production, the main challenge is that current Canadian policies do not create conditions for a positive operating margin nor a sufficient long-term demand signal.
By comparison, U.S. incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act and at the state level have encouraged billions of dollars in announced projects in that country.
The last big hurdle is the lack of global supply of the product. Available supplies are being usurped by the EU, and the U.S. and Canadian airlines are being forced to pay premiums to import marginal volumes of SAF.
“If global scarcity persists, (Canadian) airlines may struggle to meet existing or future international compliance obligations and could experience decreased global competitiveness,” stated the report.
Transport Canada has proposed seven “pillars of action” to help increase availability and access to SAF in Canada.
One of the pillars is for the government to consider long-term policies that could help de-risk the private sector investment needed to establish domestic SAF production and distribution infrastructure and create demand certainty.
Another pillar is to assess opportunities at high traffic airports (Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary, Montreal and Edmonton) to establish regional pilot SAF supply chains and explore public-private partnerships to build blending facilities.
https://www.producer.com/crops/federal-government-releases-sustainable-aviation-fuel-blueprint/
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$100 Million Lamu Palm Oil Plant Moves towards Finalisation as Kenya Targets Local Processing
The Lamu palm oil plant is advancing toward final investment discussions as Kenya seeks to expand domestic palm oil production and processing. The proposed Ksh12.9 billion ($100 million) project will target Witu Nyangoro Ranch in Lamu County. Moreover, the investment could create about 3,000 jobs while strengthening Kenya’s agricultural processing capacity.
Investment Promotion Principal Secretary Abubakar Hassan said discussions on the project are in their final stages. He made the remarks during a stakeholder meeting on August 10, 2026.
The project responds to Kenya’s heavy dependence on imported palm oil. The country currently spends about $1 billion annually on palm oil imports.
The Lamu palm oil plant will focus on establishing local processing capacity within Kenya’s edible oils industry. The development could support farmers, processors, transporters and other agricultural service providers.
Furthermore, local processing could strengthen connections between primary production and downstream manufacturing. These connections could support food processors, cooking oil manufacturers and consumer goods producers.
https://constructionreviewonline.com/100-million-lamu-palm-oil-plant-moves-towards-finalisation-as-kenya-targets-local-processing/
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Telangana High Court Upholds Cancellation Of Patanjali Foods' Palm Oil Factory Zone Over Failure To Set Up Processing Unit
The Telangana High Court has upheld the State Government's decision to cancel the Suryapet oil palm factory zone allotted to Patanjali Foods Limited, finding that the company failed to establish a processing unit within the stipulated period despite repeated opportunities. [2026 LiveLaw (Tel) 128]
The Court also noted its unsatisfactory performance in achieving the agreed plantation targets.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G.M. Mohiuddin dismissed Patanjali Foods' appeal against a Single Judge's order which had upheld the cancellation.
It held that Patanjali could not claim a legitimate expectation that the allotment would continue indefinitely despite its failure to comply with the obligations under its Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the State wherein under Clause 5(b), the company was required to establish an oil palm processing unit within 24 months of entering into the agreement.
The Court observed:
"Admittedly, the appellant failed to establish the processing unit within the stipulated period and continued to remain in default despite repeated opportunities and extensions afforded by the respondents...The appellant cannot legitimately expect the respondents to indefinitely continue the allotment despite its admitted failure to discharge the obligations undertaken under the 2nd MOA. The continued procurement of FFBs in terms of Clause 15 cannot create a legitimate expectation that the respondents would forbear from exercising the powers available to them under the contractual and statutory framework."
The Court held that the State's action was neither arbitrary nor disproportionate. It noted that the authorities had issued successive show-cause notices, considered the company's explanations and afforded it a personal hearing before cancelling the Suryapet factory zone.
The dispute arose from the cancellation of Patanjali Foods' factory zone in Suryapet District through G.O.Ms.No.13 dated March 15, 2025. Through another Government Order issued on the same day, the zone was re-allotted to respondent No.4. Patanjali challenged both orders before the High Court.
Patanjali has been engaged in oil palm cultivation in the State since 2009, initially through MAC Oil Palm Limited, which was subsequently amalgamated with the company. In 2017, Patanjali entered into a second MOA with the State Government represented by the Commissioner of Horticulture.
Under Clause 5(b) of the MOA, the company was required to establish an oil palm processing unit within 24 months of entering into the agreement. Clause 6 required it to identify and finalise the site for the processing unit within two years from receipt of the final order allotting the zones.
The company was subsequently allotted additional areas in Nalgonda and Suryapet districts. It also furnished an affidavit in June 2021 undertaking to abide by the terms of the MOA for the extended areas.
The authorities issued the first show-cause notice in December 2022, alleging that Patanjali had failed to achieve plantation targets and establish the required processing mill. Further show-cause notices were issued in December 2023 and October 2024.
Patanjali attributed the delays to factors including shortage of planting material, deficit rainfall and fluctuations in market prices. It also informed the authorities that it was taking steps to identify and acquire land for the processing unit. In January and March 2025, it informed the authorities that it had purchased 16.24 acres in Nalgonda District for establishing the mill.
Before the Division Bench, Patanjali argued that Clause 13 of the MOA permitted cancellation only for failure to furnish information and documents sought by the Commissioner of Horticulture. It contended that failure to establish a processing mill within 24 months did not itself attract cancellation.
It relied on Clause 15, which provides that where an occupier fails to commence processing within the stipulated time, it must continue procuring Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFBs) from farmers at Government-notified rates and arrange for their transportation to the nearest processing unit at its own cost. Patanjali submitted that it had complied with this requirement by procuring FFBs from farmers in Suryapet and processing them at its unit in Andhra Pradesh.
Rejecting this interpretation, the Court held that Clauses 13 and 15 operate in "distinct fields". While Clause 15 protects farmers by ensuring uninterrupted procurement pending establishment of the processing unit, Clause 13 provides for regulatory consequences when the occupier fails to demonstrate that effective steps are being taken to comply with its obligations.
The Bench said:
"The requirement of furnishing information and documents is not an end in itself but serves the purpose of enabling the Commissioner to satisfy himself that the occupier is taking effective steps towards fulfilment of the obligations expressly enumerated therein, including establishment of the oil palm processing mill and refinery."
The Court held that Clauses 5(b), 6, 13 and 15 had to be read harmoniously as part of an "integrated contractual framework". Patanjali's 2021 affidavit also expressly acknowledged that failure to comply with the requirements under the MOA could attract forfeiture of its deposit and cancellation of the factory zone.
https://www.livelaw.in/amp/high-court/telangana-high-court/telangana-high-court-upholds-cancellation-patanjali-foods-oil-palm-factory-545526
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August 12, 2026
Inside El Niño: Indonesia's palm oil industry facing challenges from one harvest to the next
The potentially strongest Super El Niño is intensifying across the Pacific and is forecast to stretch from mid-2026 into early next year. One of Indonesia's most important industries is now preparing for the worst. In Riau, the country's largest palm oil-producing province, smallholder farmers are grappling with declining yields, rising production costs, and an increasing risk of peatland fires. In our special series "Inside El Niño", Silkina Ahluwalia reports from Riau, Sumatra.
Riau is home to an estimated 1.7 million hectares of smallholder palm oil plantations, making it one of Indonesia's largest palm oil-producing regions. But this year, the farmers who depend on this land are confronting a growing challenge.
Indonesia's meteorological agency says Riau is expected to experience below-average to moderate rainfall through October.
The culprit is El Niño, the climate pattern suppressing rainfall and pushing temperatures higher across the region.
YULIUS DWI Palm Fruit Farmer "Climate change really does impact oil palm plantations. Normally, a plantation might produce around three tons per hectare in a single month, but the extreme weather conditions have caused a fall in output by as much as fifty to seventy percent."
Yulius and his fellow farmers are already feeling the financial strain. His monthly harvests are shrinking, and workers on the plantation are earning less as the amount of fruit available for collection continues to decline.
This is a harsh reality shared by many plantation owners across the province.
Andrei has been managing his palm oil plantation in Riau for more than 10 years. Past experiences have made him better prepared to manage his plantation through the dry season.
ANDREI Palm Plantation Owner "Before the dry season arrives, we need to make preparations such as applying dolomite, at least a month in advance. Acidity levels tend to rise during the dry season, which can reduce fruit production. An oil palm trunk requires eight to eighteen liters of water daily, or else production drops."
Several districts across Riau, including this one, have already recorded critically low soil moisture levels.
SILKINA AHLUWALIA Riau, Indonesia "Riau is Indonesia's largest palm oil producing province. The smallholder farmers here, like the ones behind me, account for a significant share of that output. But they are also the most vulnerable. Unlike large plantation companies, they have limited access to irrigation, finances and limited ability to absorb a bad harvest."
To put the scale of this challenge into perspective, Indonesia produces around 57 percent of the world's palm oil.
This year, however, that figure is expected to fall, by as much as 2 million tonnes mainly because of El Niño and rising fertiliser costs.
Any decline in output from major producing provinces like Riau has ripple effects far beyond Indonesia, influencing global supply, driving price fluctuations, and affecting the hundreds of millions of people who rely on palm oil every day in products ranging from cooking oil to soap and processed foods.
EKO YUNANDA Director of Indonesian Forum for the Environment (WALHI) Riau "Our organization views El Niño merely as a trigger. The forest and land fires actually stem from poor environmental governance. Local communities should be directly involved in restoration and environmental protection efforts."
Indonesia's meteorological agency continues to urge plantation operators to prepare for the drought season by strengthening water management systems and closely monitoring weather conditions through the end of 2026.
But for smallholders like Andrei and Yulius, with limited resources at their disposal, putting those measures into practice is far easier said than done.
For them, the next three months could determine whether this harvest season is one they can survive.
Silkina Ahluwalia, CGTN, Riau. https://news.cgtn.com/news/2026-08-12/VHJhbnNjcmlwdDkxODYy/index.html
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Indonesia races to contain fires as haze spreads across region
Summary
JAKARTA, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Indonesia is stepping up efforts to contain forest and land fires across six priority provinces, deploying cloud-seeding aircraft to induce rain as it works to slow the haze now spreading across the region, officials said.
Indonesia is facing a longer and more severe dry season this year as El Nino intensifies, raising the risk of drought, forest fires and air pollution.
Forestry Ministry data showed that 107,465 hectares (265,552 acres) of land were hit by fires from January to June, a 110% increase compared with the same period in 2023, when El Nino last affected Indonesia.
"We are on alert because the weather conditions really make it possible for these fires to become larger," chief security minister Djamari Chaniago told reporters on Monday.
He said there were signs that El Nino had already reached its most intense level in Indonesia.
El Nino and the dry season do not themselves cause fires but "act as catalysts" allowing them to spread more widely, Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency chief Suharyanto told Reuters on Tuesday.
"The main cause is human factors, whether deliberate or accidental," he said, citing common practices such as the burning of peatland and the use of campfires.
However, Dana Prima Tarigan of Indonesian environmental group WALHI said that rapid deforestation to make way for palm oil plantations and mines has also contributed to the problem, leaving the land dry and more vulnerable to fires.
'PRIORITY PROVINCES'
The government has identified the six priority provinces as Riau, Jambi and South Sumatra on Sumatra island, as well as West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, and South Kalimantan on Borneo island, though fires have also struck elsewhere, including on the islands of Java, Papua, and Nusa Tenggara.
Djamari said 43 helicopters and 15 fixed-wing aircraft have been deployed to put out the fires.
Authorities have also conducted cloud seeding operations, shooting salt flares to stimulate rainfall, but Djamari said the operations are challenging because of the scarcity of rain clouds.
"That is why we closely monitor even small changes in the weather. Whenever something is likely to produce rain clouds, we immediately carry (cloud seeding operations) out," he said.
Pollution from the fires is a growing concern. In Pontianak, capital of West Kalimantan, all classes have been moved online to protect students from hazardous smog, the city's mayor said.
On Tuesday, 11 areas in Malaysia's Sarawak state, which shares a border with Indonesia on Borneo island, also recorded unhealthy air quality levels, according to data from Malaysia's environmental department.
Sarawak's education department has instructed schools to suspend outdoor activities when temperatures become too high or air quality index readings exceed 100.
On Java island, a fire in Mount Bromo national park in East Java province that damaged at least 899 hectares of land has now mostly been extinguished, head of local disaster mitigation agency Gatot Soebroto told Reuters.
Reporting by Ananda Teresia in Jakarta and Rozanna Latiff in Kuala Lumpur; editing by David Stanway
https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/indonesia-races-contain-fires-haze-spreads-2026-08-11/
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Agrinas Palma Told to Copy FELDA Malaysia’s Palm Oil Ecosystem
Musi Banyuasin, South Sumatra (ANTARA) - Cooperatives Minister Ferry Juliantono has urged state-owned enterprise PT Agrinas Palma Nusantara to develop a palm oil ecosystem with cooperatives and farmers, drawing on a model applied by Malaysia's Federal Land Development Authority (Felda).
At the National Seminar on Cooperative-Based Palm Oil Optimization and Downstreaming here on Tuesday, Juliantono said Felda could serve as a reference for consolidating smallholder plantations and palm oil farmers through cooperatives.
He noted that despite this smaller land area, Malaysia's crude palm oil (CPO) production and export volumes remain relatively close to Indonesia's.
"That means there is a difference in management," he said.
The minister said Indonesia's palm oil plantation composition consists of 54 percent large companies, 43 percent smallholder plantations, and 3 percent state plantations.
He said the large share of smallholder plantations needs to be matched with stronger farmer institutions through cooperatives, so they can take on a bigger role in the palm oil industry.
Juliantono expected Agrinas Palma Nusantara to build the ecosystem directly with cooperatives, including by strengthening large-scale CPO sales, extending to export markets.
He also encouraged the ecosystem to strengthen Indonesia's CPO export capacity and develop downstream industries, including derivative products such as cooking oil.
"We should also export our CPO abroad. That is actually what we want, and we will build that ecosystem so large-scale CPO sales can take place," he said.
PT Agrinas Palma Nusantara President Director Mohammad Abdul Ghani said Agrinas received a special mandate through Presidential Regulation No. 5 of 2025 to manage palm oil plantations resulting from the crackdown on illegally opened forest areas.
Ghani said Agrinas is required to set aside at least 20 percent of the land entrusted to it as smallholder plots (plasma) for the public, adding that meeting this obligation requires the company to partner with cooperatives in managing the land.
"We will prioritize cooperatives around the land as vendors for plant maintenance, harvesting, and other activities," he said.
https://en.antaranews.com/news/426667/agrinas-urged-to-build-palm-oil-ecosystem-with-cooperatives
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Dangote’s $16 billion refinery moves closer to launch as Kenya eyes a new $100 million project with huge ambitions
A coastal county in Kenya, Lamu is on the verge of a major economic transformation as the Kenyan government confirms plans for a Ksh 12.9 billion (approximately $100 million) palm oil processing plant and moves closer to launching a multi-trillion shilling petroleum refinery.
By focusing on local production and large-scale manufacturing, the government aims to create thousands of jobs while significantly reducing the country’s dependence on expensive imports from overseas.
A project to boost local farming and job creation
The new palm oil processing plant will be located at the Witu Nyangoro Ranch in Lamu. Investment Promotion Principal Secretary Abubakar Hassan has stated that discussions for this $100 million project are currently being finalized.
DON’T MISS THIS: Tanzania turns to Dangote for fertiliser and 2,000MW power projects after Kenya lands East African refinery
The primary reason for this investment is to help Kenya save money. Currently, palm oil is one of the most expensive items the country buys from abroad, second only to petroleum.
According to Kenyans.co.ke, Principal Secretary (PS) for the State Department for Investment Promotion within the Ministry of Investments, Abubakar Hassan highlighted the scale of this issue, stating, “The second-largest import bill, after petroleum oil, is crude palm oil.” He also added that “Kenya imports $1 billion of palm oil”.
By encouraging local farmers to grow palm oil and processing it within Lamu, the government hopes to keep that money within the Kenyan economy. This project is expected to create approximately 3,000 new jobs.
https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/dangotes-dollar16-billion-refinery-moves-closer-to-launch-as-kenya-eyes-a-new/jh7jrle
Inside El Niño: Indonesia's palm oil industry facing challenges from one harvest to the next
The potentially strongest Super El Niño is intensifying across the Pacific and is forecast to stretch from mid-2026 into early next year. One of Indonesia's most important industries is now preparing for the worst. In Riau, the country's largest palm oil-producing province, smallholder farmers are grappling with declining yields, rising production costs, and an increasing risk of peatland fires. In our special series "Inside El Niño", Silkina Ahluwalia reports from Riau, Sumatra.
Riau is home to an estimated 1.7 million hectares of smallholder palm oil plantations, making it one of Indonesia's largest palm oil-producing regions. But this year, the farmers who depend on this land are confronting a growing challenge.
Indonesia's meteorological agency says Riau is expected to experience below-average to moderate rainfall through October.
The culprit is El Niño, the climate pattern suppressing rainfall and pushing temperatures higher across the region.
YULIUS DWI Palm Fruit Farmer "Climate change really does impact oil palm plantations. Normally, a plantation might produce around three tons per hectare in a single month, but the extreme weather conditions have caused a fall in output by as much as fifty to seventy percent."
Yulius and his fellow farmers are already feeling the financial strain. His monthly harvests are shrinking, and workers on the plantation are earning less as the amount of fruit available for collection continues to decline.
This is a harsh reality shared by many plantation owners across the province.
Andrei has been managing his palm oil plantation in Riau for more than 10 years. Past experiences have made him better prepared to manage his plantation through the dry season.
ANDREI Palm Plantation Owner "Before the dry season arrives, we need to make preparations such as applying dolomite, at least a month in advance. Acidity levels tend to rise during the dry season, which can reduce fruit production. An oil palm trunk requires eight to eighteen liters of water daily, or else production drops."
Several districts across Riau, including this one, have already recorded critically low soil moisture levels.
SILKINA AHLUWALIA Riau, Indonesia "Riau is Indonesia's largest palm oil producing province. The smallholder farmers here, like the ones behind me, account for a significant share of that output. But they are also the most vulnerable. Unlike large plantation companies, they have limited access to irrigation, finances and limited ability to absorb a bad harvest."
To put the scale of this challenge into perspective, Indonesia produces around 57 percent of the world's palm oil.
This year, however, that figure is expected to fall, by as much as 2 million tonnes mainly because of El Niño and rising fertiliser costs.
Any decline in output from major producing provinces like Riau has ripple effects far beyond Indonesia, influencing global supply, driving price fluctuations, and affecting the hundreds of millions of people who rely on palm oil every day in products ranging from cooking oil to soap and processed foods.
EKO YUNANDA Director of Indonesian Forum for the Environment (WALHI) Riau "Our organization views El Niño merely as a trigger. The forest and land fires actually stem from poor environmental governance. Local communities should be directly involved in restoration and environmental protection efforts."
Indonesia's meteorological agency continues to urge plantation operators to prepare for the drought season by strengthening water management systems and closely monitoring weather conditions through the end of 2026.
But for smallholders like Andrei and Yulius, with limited resources at their disposal, putting those measures into practice is far easier said than done.
For them, the next three months could determine whether this harvest season is one they can survive.
Silkina Ahluwalia, CGTN, Riau. https://news.cgtn.com/news/2026-08-12/VHJhbnNjcmlwdDkxODYy/index.html
---------
Indonesia races to contain fires as haze spreads across region
Summary
- Fire-damaged areas exceed 100,000 ha from January-June
- Authorities deploy aircraft to douse flames, seed clouds
- Schools closed, outdoor activities curbed as pollution mounts
JAKARTA, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Indonesia is stepping up efforts to contain forest and land fires across six priority provinces, deploying cloud-seeding aircraft to induce rain as it works to slow the haze now spreading across the region, officials said.
Indonesia is facing a longer and more severe dry season this year as El Nino intensifies, raising the risk of drought, forest fires and air pollution.
Forestry Ministry data showed that 107,465 hectares (265,552 acres) of land were hit by fires from January to June, a 110% increase compared with the same period in 2023, when El Nino last affected Indonesia.
"We are on alert because the weather conditions really make it possible for these fires to become larger," chief security minister Djamari Chaniago told reporters on Monday.
He said there were signs that El Nino had already reached its most intense level in Indonesia.
El Nino and the dry season do not themselves cause fires but "act as catalysts" allowing them to spread more widely, Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency chief Suharyanto told Reuters on Tuesday.
"The main cause is human factors, whether deliberate or accidental," he said, citing common practices such as the burning of peatland and the use of campfires.
However, Dana Prima Tarigan of Indonesian environmental group WALHI said that rapid deforestation to make way for palm oil plantations and mines has also contributed to the problem, leaving the land dry and more vulnerable to fires.
'PRIORITY PROVINCES'
The government has identified the six priority provinces as Riau, Jambi and South Sumatra on Sumatra island, as well as West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, and South Kalimantan on Borneo island, though fires have also struck elsewhere, including on the islands of Java, Papua, and Nusa Tenggara.
Djamari said 43 helicopters and 15 fixed-wing aircraft have been deployed to put out the fires.
Authorities have also conducted cloud seeding operations, shooting salt flares to stimulate rainfall, but Djamari said the operations are challenging because of the scarcity of rain clouds.
"That is why we closely monitor even small changes in the weather. Whenever something is likely to produce rain clouds, we immediately carry (cloud seeding operations) out," he said.
Pollution from the fires is a growing concern. In Pontianak, capital of West Kalimantan, all classes have been moved online to protect students from hazardous smog, the city's mayor said.
On Tuesday, 11 areas in Malaysia's Sarawak state, which shares a border with Indonesia on Borneo island, also recorded unhealthy air quality levels, according to data from Malaysia's environmental department.
Sarawak's education department has instructed schools to suspend outdoor activities when temperatures become too high or air quality index readings exceed 100.
On Java island, a fire in Mount Bromo national park in East Java province that damaged at least 899 hectares of land has now mostly been extinguished, head of local disaster mitigation agency Gatot Soebroto told Reuters.
Reporting by Ananda Teresia in Jakarta and Rozanna Latiff in Kuala Lumpur; editing by David Stanway
https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/indonesia-races-contain-fires-haze-spreads-2026-08-11/
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Agrinas Palma Told to Copy FELDA Malaysia’s Palm Oil Ecosystem
Musi Banyuasin, South Sumatra (ANTARA) - Cooperatives Minister Ferry Juliantono has urged state-owned enterprise PT Agrinas Palma Nusantara to develop a palm oil ecosystem with cooperatives and farmers, drawing on a model applied by Malaysia's Federal Land Development Authority (Felda).
At the National Seminar on Cooperative-Based Palm Oil Optimization and Downstreaming here on Tuesday, Juliantono said Felda could serve as a reference for consolidating smallholder plantations and palm oil farmers through cooperatives.
He noted that despite this smaller land area, Malaysia's crude palm oil (CPO) production and export volumes remain relatively close to Indonesia's.
"That means there is a difference in management," he said.
The minister said Indonesia's palm oil plantation composition consists of 54 percent large companies, 43 percent smallholder plantations, and 3 percent state plantations.
He said the large share of smallholder plantations needs to be matched with stronger farmer institutions through cooperatives, so they can take on a bigger role in the palm oil industry.
Juliantono expected Agrinas Palma Nusantara to build the ecosystem directly with cooperatives, including by strengthening large-scale CPO sales, extending to export markets.
He also encouraged the ecosystem to strengthen Indonesia's CPO export capacity and develop downstream industries, including derivative products such as cooking oil.
"We should also export our CPO abroad. That is actually what we want, and we will build that ecosystem so large-scale CPO sales can take place," he said.
PT Agrinas Palma Nusantara President Director Mohammad Abdul Ghani said Agrinas received a special mandate through Presidential Regulation No. 5 of 2025 to manage palm oil plantations resulting from the crackdown on illegally opened forest areas.
Ghani said Agrinas is required to set aside at least 20 percent of the land entrusted to it as smallholder plots (plasma) for the public, adding that meeting this obligation requires the company to partner with cooperatives in managing the land.
"We will prioritize cooperatives around the land as vendors for plant maintenance, harvesting, and other activities," he said.
https://en.antaranews.com/news/426667/agrinas-urged-to-build-palm-oil-ecosystem-with-cooperatives
----------
Dangote’s $16 billion refinery moves closer to launch as Kenya eyes a new $100 million project with huge ambitions
A coastal county in Kenya, Lamu is on the verge of a major economic transformation as the Kenyan government confirms plans for a Ksh 12.9 billion (approximately $100 million) palm oil processing plant and moves closer to launching a multi-trillion shilling petroleum refinery.
- There is a new plan to build a $100 million palm oil processing plant and a multi-billion dollar petroleum refinery in Lamu county.
- Both projects are designed to boost local economies, create jobs, and position Lamu for long-term growth and regional influence.
- Local palm oil production is expected to save Kenya significant import costs and create around 3,000 new jobs.
- These projects will transform Lamu into a major agriculture and energy hub.
By focusing on local production and large-scale manufacturing, the government aims to create thousands of jobs while significantly reducing the country’s dependence on expensive imports from overseas.
A project to boost local farming and job creation
The new palm oil processing plant will be located at the Witu Nyangoro Ranch in Lamu. Investment Promotion Principal Secretary Abubakar Hassan has stated that discussions for this $100 million project are currently being finalized.
DON’T MISS THIS: Tanzania turns to Dangote for fertiliser and 2,000MW power projects after Kenya lands East African refinery
The primary reason for this investment is to help Kenya save money. Currently, palm oil is one of the most expensive items the country buys from abroad, second only to petroleum.
According to Kenyans.co.ke, Principal Secretary (PS) for the State Department for Investment Promotion within the Ministry of Investments, Abubakar Hassan highlighted the scale of this issue, stating, “The second-largest import bill, after petroleum oil, is crude palm oil.” He also added that “Kenya imports $1 billion of palm oil”.
By encouraging local farmers to grow palm oil and processing it within Lamu, the government hopes to keep that money within the Kenyan economy. This project is expected to create approximately 3,000 new jobs.
https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/dangotes-dollar16-billion-refinery-moves-closer-to-launch-as-kenya-eyes-a-new/jh7jrle
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August 11, 2026
Indonesia: El Nino threatens to slash Indonesia's palm oil output by 2 million tonnes
Licensable video:
Monday, 10th August 2026, 10:41 AM EDT
Shotlist Riau, Indonesia - Recent (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland) 1. Various of palm oil tree plantations, palm trees 2. SOUNDBITE (Indonesian, dubbed in English) Yulius Dwi, palm fruit farmer (starting with shot 1): "Climate change really does impact oil palm plantations. Normally, a plantation might produce around three tons per hectare in a single month, but under these extreme weather conditions, that output can fall by as much as 50 to 70 percent. So, clearly, this represents a real financial loss for the farmers." 3. Various of palm plantation owner Andrei examining palm seeds 4. SOUNDBITE (Indonesian, dubbed in English) Andrei, palm plantation owner (no full name given): "We were certainly shocked, absolutely shocked. We were completely taken aback because we missed all our monthly targets for yield per hectare. It was the same situation at the loading ramp. Usually, the drivers head out almost every day, but instead, all the trucks were just sitting idle there." 5. Various of workers harvesting palm seeds, palm trees Storyline Indonesia's palm oil sector is bracing for significant losses this year as El Nino drives severe drought conditions across Riau, one of the country's largest palm oil production hubs. The climate pattern, which suppresses rainfall and pushes temperatures higher, is threatening yields across an estimated 1.7 million hectares of smallholder plantations in the region. The country's meteorological agency has warned that Riau will see below-average to moderate rainfall through October, with several districts already recording critically low soil moisture levels. For palm oil trees, which rely on consistent rainfall throughout the growing season, the shift poses a direct threat to healthy yields. "Climate change really does impact oil palm plantations. Normally, a plantation might produce around three tons per hectare in a single month, but under these extreme weather conditions, that output can fall by as much as 50 to 70 percent. So, clearly, this represents a real financial loss for the farmers," said Yulius Dwi, a palm fruit farmer. The memories of past El Nino events still haunt those with years in the industry. Resident Andrei has managed his plantation in Riau for more than a decade, but says the climate pattern still triggers anxiety. "We were certainly shocked, absolutely shocked. We were completely taken aback because we missed all our monthly targets for yield per hectare. It was the same situation at the loading ramp. Usually, the drivers head out almost every day, but instead, all the trucks were just sitting idle there," Andrei said. The production decline is expected to have national implications. Indonesia produced more than 51 million tonnes of palm oil in 2025, but the output is projected to fall by as much as two million tonnes this year, driven primarily by El Nino and rising fertilizer costs. Indonesia's meteorological agency continues to urge plantation operators to prepare for the drought season by strengthening water management systems and closely monitoring weather conditions through the end of 2026. But for smallholders like Andrei and Yulius, with limited resources at their disposal, putting those measures into practice is far easier said than done. For them, the next three months could determine whether this harvest season is one they can survive.
https://www.reutersconnect.com/item/indonesia-el-nino-threatens-to-slash-indonesias-palm-oil-output-by-2-million-tonnes/dGFnOnJldXRlcnMuY29tLDIwMjY6bmV3c21sX09XU0hCQzExNzQ5MTY
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Indonesia urges BRICS to expand agricultural trade
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia is urging member nations of the BRICS economic bloc to expand their industrial cooperation framework into agriculture, aiming to boost trade in value-added commodities and processed agro-products.
Speaking at an exhibition and business matching event in Jakarta on Monday, Deputy Minister of Industry Faisol Riza said commodity-based agriculture should complement the bloc's existing focus on minerals and technology.
"This is an opportunity for us to encourage member countries to fully utilize the agricultural potential of each nation," Riza said.
He noted that several BRICS member states remain primary importers of Indonesian agricultural output, particularly crude palm oil (CPO) and its downstream derivatives.
"Not just CPO, but also palm oil derivatives, so we can prepare value-added products for global and BRICS markets," Riza added.
Pointing to India as a key market, Riza said New Delhi has requested increased imports of Indonesian agro-products—including cashew nuts and raw materials—while showing keen interest in processed goods.
In turn, Indian authorities have asked for regulatory adjustments to help narrow their trade deficit with Jakarta.
The diplomatic push aligns with broader efforts by the Industry Ministry to position Indonesia within the expanding economic bloc.
It follows Indonesia’s participation in the 4th BRICS Partnership on the New Industrial Revolution (PartNIR) Advisory Group Meeting in New Delhi on Aug. 3.
During that session, Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita presented three national priorities: strengthening small and medium industries, accelerating the green industrial transition, and building data-driven supply chains.
"Indonesia views PartNIR as an important platform for aligning its national industrial strategy with the collective capabilities of the BRICS countries," Kartasasmita said in a statement Friday.
"By pooling our strengths, we can address shared challenges and ensure technological progress benefits all member states."
https://en.antaranews.com/amp/news/426432/indonesia-urges-brics-to-expand-agricultural-trade
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Malaysia’s SD Guthrie sees El Niño impacting 2027-28 palm oil output
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Malaysia's SD Guthrie (SDGU.KL), opens new tab, one of the world's largest palm oil producers, said on Tuesday that it expects production to be impacted in 2027 and 2028 with El Niño set to bring drier and hotter weather.
Production for the rest of 2026 is expected to remain largely unaffected by El Niño, as its effects are not felt immediately but instead follow a 12-to-16-month lag, Chief Executive Officer Mohd Haris Mohd Arshad said at a press conference.
https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/malaysias-sd-guthrie-sees-el-nio-impacting-2027-28-palm-oil-output-2026-08-11/
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El Nino, biodiesel demand support CPO prices despite rising stocks
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's palm oil inventories rose to a five-month high in July as stronger production outpaced exports, but research firms expect crude palm oil (CPO) prices to remain firm in the second half of 2026 amid growing concerns over El Nino and tighter global supply.
Palm oil stocks increased 3.3 per cent month-on-month to 2.63 million tonnes in July, marking the fourth consecutive monthly increase, according to the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) data.
Production rose 9.4 per cent month-on-month to 1.79 million tonnes, while exports increased 14.5 per cent to 1.39 million tonnes.
Imports, meanwhile, fell 51.9 per cent to 49,566 tonnes, while domestic consumption declined 10.8 per cent to 365,872 tonnes.
CIMB Securities Sdn Bhd said the higher exports, particularly to India ahead of the festive season, helped limit the increase in inventories. However, production was still sufficient to push stocks higher during the month.
Exports also remained strong to the European Union, India and the Middle East, according to Public Investment Bank Bhd (PublicInvest), although shipments to China and the United States declined.
Despite the increase in stocks, the firms expect CPO prices to remain supported in the coming months, with concerns over weather conditions and global vegetable oil supply providing a floor to prices.
CIMB Securities expects CPO prices to trade between RM4,400 and RM4,600 a tonne in the near term, citing rising geopolitical risks, strengthening El Niño conditions and higher biodiesel demand in Indonesia.
It said stronger El Niño conditions could reduce oil palm yields and production in Southeast Asia with a time lag, posing greater risks to supply from 2027 onwards.
The firm also pointed to sharply lower sunflower oil exports from Russia and Ukraine following attacks on ports and infrastructure, which could support substitution demand for palm oil ahead of India's September to November festive season.
Indonesia's nationwide B50 biodiesel mandate is another source of support, with annual palm biodiesel consumption estimated at between 16.7 million and 18 million kilolitres.
PublicInvest similarly expects CPO prices to hold up in the second half of 2026, citing concerns over weaker palm oil yields in Malaysia and Indonesia as El Niño develops and potentially peaks towards year-end.
It said the United States Department of Agriculture had also lowered its 2026-27 Indonesian palm oil production forecast to 47.2 million tonnes from 48 million tonnes, citing persistent drought conditions that could affect crop water availability in key growing regions from October.
RHB Research expects Malaysia's palm oil inventories to remain above two million tonnes throughout 2026, as the impact of El Niño on output is likely to be felt mainly towards year-end and into 2027.
The firm search also expects export momentum to continue as major importers increase purchases ahead of the festive season.
Against this backdrop, the plantation sector is expected to see stronger earnings in the second quarter, supported by higher CPO prices and improved fresh fruit bunch (FFB) production.
RHB Research said Malaysian spot CPO prices averaged RM4,519 a tonne in the second quarter, up 8.2 per cent quarter-on-quarter, while FFB production among Malaysian plantation companies under its coverage rose 8.4 per cent.
PublicInvest noted that average CPO prices increased to RM4,523 a tonne in the second quarter from RM4,071 a tonne a year earlier, despite Malaysian CPO production falling 7.1 per cent year-on-year to 4.7 million tonnes.
It expects the combination of stronger CPO prices and production to drive margin expansion for most upstream plantation companies.
RHB Research expects earnings to continue improving into the third quarter, supported by seasonally stronger output and higher average selling prices.
CIMB Securities has raised its 2026 and 2027 CPO price forecasts by RM50 a tonne to RM4,450 and RM4,550, respectively, while maintaining its "Overweight" call on the plantation sector.
RHB Research also maintained its "Overweight" call, while PublicInvest retained the same rating and said it was reviewing its average CPO price assumption of RM4,400 a tonne for 2026 and 2027.
For stock picks, CIMB Securities favours IOI Corp Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd and Hap Seng Plantations Holdings Bhd.
RHB Research's preferred names also include IOI Corp, Johor Plantations Group Bhd, Sarawak Oil Palms Bhd, Hap Seng Plantations Holdings Bhd, PT Triputra Agro Persada Tbk, SD Guthrie Bhd and First Resources Ltd.
PublicInvest's top pick is Ta Ann Holdings Bhd, which it favours for its high dividend yield and above-industry-average FFB production growth.
https://www.nst.com.my/business/corporate/2026/08/1508572/el-nino-biodiesel-demand-support-cpo-prices-despite-rising
Indonesia: El Nino threatens to slash Indonesia's palm oil output by 2 million tonnes
Licensable video:
Monday, 10th August 2026, 10:41 AM EDT
Shotlist Riau, Indonesia - Recent (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland) 1. Various of palm oil tree plantations, palm trees 2. SOUNDBITE (Indonesian, dubbed in English) Yulius Dwi, palm fruit farmer (starting with shot 1): "Climate change really does impact oil palm plantations. Normally, a plantation might produce around three tons per hectare in a single month, but under these extreme weather conditions, that output can fall by as much as 50 to 70 percent. So, clearly, this represents a real financial loss for the farmers." 3. Various of palm plantation owner Andrei examining palm seeds 4. SOUNDBITE (Indonesian, dubbed in English) Andrei, palm plantation owner (no full name given): "We were certainly shocked, absolutely shocked. We were completely taken aback because we missed all our monthly targets for yield per hectare. It was the same situation at the loading ramp. Usually, the drivers head out almost every day, but instead, all the trucks were just sitting idle there." 5. Various of workers harvesting palm seeds, palm trees Storyline Indonesia's palm oil sector is bracing for significant losses this year as El Nino drives severe drought conditions across Riau, one of the country's largest palm oil production hubs. The climate pattern, which suppresses rainfall and pushes temperatures higher, is threatening yields across an estimated 1.7 million hectares of smallholder plantations in the region. The country's meteorological agency has warned that Riau will see below-average to moderate rainfall through October, with several districts already recording critically low soil moisture levels. For palm oil trees, which rely on consistent rainfall throughout the growing season, the shift poses a direct threat to healthy yields. "Climate change really does impact oil palm plantations. Normally, a plantation might produce around three tons per hectare in a single month, but under these extreme weather conditions, that output can fall by as much as 50 to 70 percent. So, clearly, this represents a real financial loss for the farmers," said Yulius Dwi, a palm fruit farmer. The memories of past El Nino events still haunt those with years in the industry. Resident Andrei has managed his plantation in Riau for more than a decade, but says the climate pattern still triggers anxiety. "We were certainly shocked, absolutely shocked. We were completely taken aback because we missed all our monthly targets for yield per hectare. It was the same situation at the loading ramp. Usually, the drivers head out almost every day, but instead, all the trucks were just sitting idle there," Andrei said. The production decline is expected to have national implications. Indonesia produced more than 51 million tonnes of palm oil in 2025, but the output is projected to fall by as much as two million tonnes this year, driven primarily by El Nino and rising fertilizer costs. Indonesia's meteorological agency continues to urge plantation operators to prepare for the drought season by strengthening water management systems and closely monitoring weather conditions through the end of 2026. But for smallholders like Andrei and Yulius, with limited resources at their disposal, putting those measures into practice is far easier said than done. For them, the next three months could determine whether this harvest season is one they can survive.
https://www.reutersconnect.com/item/indonesia-el-nino-threatens-to-slash-indonesias-palm-oil-output-by-2-million-tonnes/dGFnOnJldXRlcnMuY29tLDIwMjY6bmV3c21sX09XU0hCQzExNzQ5MTY
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Indonesia urges BRICS to expand agricultural trade
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia is urging member nations of the BRICS economic bloc to expand their industrial cooperation framework into agriculture, aiming to boost trade in value-added commodities and processed agro-products.
Speaking at an exhibition and business matching event in Jakarta on Monday, Deputy Minister of Industry Faisol Riza said commodity-based agriculture should complement the bloc's existing focus on minerals and technology.
"This is an opportunity for us to encourage member countries to fully utilize the agricultural potential of each nation," Riza said.
He noted that several BRICS member states remain primary importers of Indonesian agricultural output, particularly crude palm oil (CPO) and its downstream derivatives.
"Not just CPO, but also palm oil derivatives, so we can prepare value-added products for global and BRICS markets," Riza added.
Pointing to India as a key market, Riza said New Delhi has requested increased imports of Indonesian agro-products—including cashew nuts and raw materials—while showing keen interest in processed goods.
In turn, Indian authorities have asked for regulatory adjustments to help narrow their trade deficit with Jakarta.
The diplomatic push aligns with broader efforts by the Industry Ministry to position Indonesia within the expanding economic bloc.
It follows Indonesia’s participation in the 4th BRICS Partnership on the New Industrial Revolution (PartNIR) Advisory Group Meeting in New Delhi on Aug. 3.
During that session, Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita presented three national priorities: strengthening small and medium industries, accelerating the green industrial transition, and building data-driven supply chains.
"Indonesia views PartNIR as an important platform for aligning its national industrial strategy with the collective capabilities of the BRICS countries," Kartasasmita said in a statement Friday.
"By pooling our strengths, we can address shared challenges and ensure technological progress benefits all member states."
https://en.antaranews.com/amp/news/426432/indonesia-urges-brics-to-expand-agricultural-trade
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Malaysia’s SD Guthrie sees El Niño impacting 2027-28 palm oil output
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Malaysia's SD Guthrie (SDGU.KL), opens new tab, one of the world's largest palm oil producers, said on Tuesday that it expects production to be impacted in 2027 and 2028 with El Niño set to bring drier and hotter weather.
Production for the rest of 2026 is expected to remain largely unaffected by El Niño, as its effects are not felt immediately but instead follow a 12-to-16-month lag, Chief Executive Officer Mohd Haris Mohd Arshad said at a press conference.
https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/malaysias-sd-guthrie-sees-el-nio-impacting-2027-28-palm-oil-output-2026-08-11/
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El Nino, biodiesel demand support CPO prices despite rising stocks
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's palm oil inventories rose to a five-month high in July as stronger production outpaced exports, but research firms expect crude palm oil (CPO) prices to remain firm in the second half of 2026 amid growing concerns over El Nino and tighter global supply.
Palm oil stocks increased 3.3 per cent month-on-month to 2.63 million tonnes in July, marking the fourth consecutive monthly increase, according to the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) data.
Production rose 9.4 per cent month-on-month to 1.79 million tonnes, while exports increased 14.5 per cent to 1.39 million tonnes.
Imports, meanwhile, fell 51.9 per cent to 49,566 tonnes, while domestic consumption declined 10.8 per cent to 365,872 tonnes.
CIMB Securities Sdn Bhd said the higher exports, particularly to India ahead of the festive season, helped limit the increase in inventories. However, production was still sufficient to push stocks higher during the month.
Exports also remained strong to the European Union, India and the Middle East, according to Public Investment Bank Bhd (PublicInvest), although shipments to China and the United States declined.
Despite the increase in stocks, the firms expect CPO prices to remain supported in the coming months, with concerns over weather conditions and global vegetable oil supply providing a floor to prices.
CIMB Securities expects CPO prices to trade between RM4,400 and RM4,600 a tonne in the near term, citing rising geopolitical risks, strengthening El Niño conditions and higher biodiesel demand in Indonesia.
It said stronger El Niño conditions could reduce oil palm yields and production in Southeast Asia with a time lag, posing greater risks to supply from 2027 onwards.
The firm also pointed to sharply lower sunflower oil exports from Russia and Ukraine following attacks on ports and infrastructure, which could support substitution demand for palm oil ahead of India's September to November festive season.
Indonesia's nationwide B50 biodiesel mandate is another source of support, with annual palm biodiesel consumption estimated at between 16.7 million and 18 million kilolitres.
PublicInvest similarly expects CPO prices to hold up in the second half of 2026, citing concerns over weaker palm oil yields in Malaysia and Indonesia as El Niño develops and potentially peaks towards year-end.
It said the United States Department of Agriculture had also lowered its 2026-27 Indonesian palm oil production forecast to 47.2 million tonnes from 48 million tonnes, citing persistent drought conditions that could affect crop water availability in key growing regions from October.
RHB Research expects Malaysia's palm oil inventories to remain above two million tonnes throughout 2026, as the impact of El Niño on output is likely to be felt mainly towards year-end and into 2027.
The firm search also expects export momentum to continue as major importers increase purchases ahead of the festive season.
Against this backdrop, the plantation sector is expected to see stronger earnings in the second quarter, supported by higher CPO prices and improved fresh fruit bunch (FFB) production.
RHB Research said Malaysian spot CPO prices averaged RM4,519 a tonne in the second quarter, up 8.2 per cent quarter-on-quarter, while FFB production among Malaysian plantation companies under its coverage rose 8.4 per cent.
PublicInvest noted that average CPO prices increased to RM4,523 a tonne in the second quarter from RM4,071 a tonne a year earlier, despite Malaysian CPO production falling 7.1 per cent year-on-year to 4.7 million tonnes.
It expects the combination of stronger CPO prices and production to drive margin expansion for most upstream plantation companies.
RHB Research expects earnings to continue improving into the third quarter, supported by seasonally stronger output and higher average selling prices.
CIMB Securities has raised its 2026 and 2027 CPO price forecasts by RM50 a tonne to RM4,450 and RM4,550, respectively, while maintaining its "Overweight" call on the plantation sector.
RHB Research also maintained its "Overweight" call, while PublicInvest retained the same rating and said it was reviewing its average CPO price assumption of RM4,400 a tonne for 2026 and 2027.
For stock picks, CIMB Securities favours IOI Corp Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd and Hap Seng Plantations Holdings Bhd.
RHB Research's preferred names also include IOI Corp, Johor Plantations Group Bhd, Sarawak Oil Palms Bhd, Hap Seng Plantations Holdings Bhd, PT Triputra Agro Persada Tbk, SD Guthrie Bhd and First Resources Ltd.
PublicInvest's top pick is Ta Ann Holdings Bhd, which it favours for its high dividend yield and above-industry-average FFB production growth.
https://www.nst.com.my/business/corporate/2026/08/1508572/el-nino-biodiesel-demand-support-cpo-prices-despite-rising
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August 10, 2026
Indonesia’s palm oil export growth slows ahead of B50 biodiesel rollout
In Ukraine, UkrAgroConsult reported that Indonesia’s palm oil export growth slowed significantly in the first half of 2026 as the country prepared to launch its mandatory B50 biodiesel program.
According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS), palm oil exports rose by 7.3% year-on-year to $12.27 billion in January-June 2026, compared with a 24.8% increase during the same period a year earlier. Export volumes grew by just 2.5% to 11.28 million tons. In June alone, crude palm oil exports weakened, with export value slipping 0.4% to $393.7 million, according to the report.
BPS noted that these figures do not yet reflect the impact of the B50 biodiesel mandate, which took effect in July 2026 and increased the mandatory palm oil blend in biodiesel from 40% to 50%. The full impact on exports will become clearer in the coming months and will depend on production, supply, domestic demand, and international prices, it added.
The Indonesian Palm Oil Association (Gapki) estimates that the B50 program will increase domestic crude palm oil demand by approximately 1.9 million tons, bringing total consumption for biodiesel production to around 14.6 million tons. The B50 program is part of Indonesia’s strategy to reduce its dependence on imported fossil fuels.
https://biofuelsdigest.com/indonesias-palm-oil-export-growth-slows-ahead-of-b50-biodiesel-rollout/
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Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Fear FX Lock-Up’s Effect on Liquidity
Jakarta. Indonesian palm oil businesses fear that the foreign exchange retention rule will take a toll on their working capital.
Indonesia has mandated natural resource businesses to park all of their foreign currency earnings from their exports in state-owned banks for at least 12 months. The regulation also caps rupiah conversion to just 50% of the proceeds. In other words, businesses will likely have less money at their disposal for operations. The palm oil industry, which has largely driven Indonesia’s overall exports, is subject to this new rule.
Palm oil producer association Gapki warned that the government should consider the liquidity and the characteristics of the industry. According to their estimates, running a palm oil business requires mammoth-sized capital, while only clinching an average profit margin of between 10 and 15%.
"And now we [Indonesia] have the foreign exchange retention rule. We give our support, but perhaps don't rush the policy, especially if the condition shows it’s not feasible. This will only backfire on us,” Gapki chair Eddy Martono told a recent forum in Balikpapan.
"But Gapki is ready to support and partner with the government. We will not go against the government policies.”
Gapki's fiscal chief Yustinus Lambang Setyo warned that the lockup rule should pay attention to the liquidity and characteristics of the palm oil industry itself. Amid rising exports, businesses are keeping their fingers crossed that they can still maintain their export competitiveness against foreign suppliers. He also warned that businesses would have to tap additional bank financing facilities to support operations to narrow the capital gap, which could lead to elevated interest and production costs.
“What we should do for now is to make sure that the government effectively enforce existing rules. Any regulatory improvements should be accompanied by optimal implementation,” Yustinus said.
The industry is also facing other costs. Palm oil businesses have to pay a duty of $148 per metric ton of their shipments. There is also an export levy of $124.56 per metric ton. The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reported that Indonesian palm oil exports totaled $12.27 billion in the first half of 2026. The latest foreign currency lockup rule has been in effect since June.
This excerpt is from an article published by Jakartaglobe.id under the headline "Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Fear FX Lock-Up’s Effect on Liquidity". Click the following link to read the full article: https://jakartaglobe.id/business/indonesian-palm-oil-producers-fear-fx-lockups-effect-on-liquidity.
Author : Tri Listiyarini
https://jakartaglobe.id/business/indonesian-palm-oil-producers-fear-fx-lockups-effect-on-liquidity
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Egypt, Indonesia Explore Dual Trade Deals to Expand North African Investment Footprint
Key Takeaways
● Indonesian and Egyptian trade ministers agreed to explore parallel negotiations for both a Preferential Trade Agreement and a full Free Trade Agreement.
● Two-way trade reached $1.74 billion in the first half of 2026, with Jakarta maintaining a robust trade surplus of over $442 million.
● Both nations aim to convene the second Joint Trade Committee meeting before the end of 2026 to formalize negotiation roadmaps and engage private sector partners.
● Proposed collaborative initiatives include joint ventures in garment manufacturing and targeted virtual forums for agricultural trade.
JAIPUR, Investortrust.id — Indonesia and Egypt are moving to accelerate commercial ties through a dual-track trade framework, aiming to convert long-standing diplomatic alignment into structured bilateral investment and expanded market access across North Africa and Southeast Asia.
Following up on a strategic partnership declaration signed by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in April 2025, Trade Minister Budi Santoso held bilateral talks with Egyptian Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade Mohamed Farid Saleh in Jaipur, India, on Friday, Aug. 7, 2026. The meeting occurred on the sidelines of the BRICS Trade Ministers Meeting.
For Southeast Asia’s largest economy, formalizing a trade corridor with Egypt provides a strategic gateway into North African and Middle Eastern markets. While Indonesia maintains a consistent trade surplus with Cairo driven by agricultural and palm oil exports, establishing preferential and free trade agreements reduces tariff exposure, opens opportunities for manufacturing joint ventures, and hedges against shifting trade rules in Western markets.
https://investortrust.id/international/112259/egypt-indonesia-explore-dual-trade-deals-to-expand-north-african-investment-footprint?page=english-edition
Indonesia’s palm oil export growth slows ahead of B50 biodiesel rollout
In Ukraine, UkrAgroConsult reported that Indonesia’s palm oil export growth slowed significantly in the first half of 2026 as the country prepared to launch its mandatory B50 biodiesel program.
According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS), palm oil exports rose by 7.3% year-on-year to $12.27 billion in January-June 2026, compared with a 24.8% increase during the same period a year earlier. Export volumes grew by just 2.5% to 11.28 million tons. In June alone, crude palm oil exports weakened, with export value slipping 0.4% to $393.7 million, according to the report.
BPS noted that these figures do not yet reflect the impact of the B50 biodiesel mandate, which took effect in July 2026 and increased the mandatory palm oil blend in biodiesel from 40% to 50%. The full impact on exports will become clearer in the coming months and will depend on production, supply, domestic demand, and international prices, it added.
The Indonesian Palm Oil Association (Gapki) estimates that the B50 program will increase domestic crude palm oil demand by approximately 1.9 million tons, bringing total consumption for biodiesel production to around 14.6 million tons. The B50 program is part of Indonesia’s strategy to reduce its dependence on imported fossil fuels.
https://biofuelsdigest.com/indonesias-palm-oil-export-growth-slows-ahead-of-b50-biodiesel-rollout/
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Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Fear FX Lock-Up’s Effect on Liquidity
Jakarta. Indonesian palm oil businesses fear that the foreign exchange retention rule will take a toll on their working capital.
Indonesia has mandated natural resource businesses to park all of their foreign currency earnings from their exports in state-owned banks for at least 12 months. The regulation also caps rupiah conversion to just 50% of the proceeds. In other words, businesses will likely have less money at their disposal for operations. The palm oil industry, which has largely driven Indonesia’s overall exports, is subject to this new rule.
Palm oil producer association Gapki warned that the government should consider the liquidity and the characteristics of the industry. According to their estimates, running a palm oil business requires mammoth-sized capital, while only clinching an average profit margin of between 10 and 15%.
"And now we [Indonesia] have the foreign exchange retention rule. We give our support, but perhaps don't rush the policy, especially if the condition shows it’s not feasible. This will only backfire on us,” Gapki chair Eddy Martono told a recent forum in Balikpapan.
"But Gapki is ready to support and partner with the government. We will not go against the government policies.”
Gapki's fiscal chief Yustinus Lambang Setyo warned that the lockup rule should pay attention to the liquidity and characteristics of the palm oil industry itself. Amid rising exports, businesses are keeping their fingers crossed that they can still maintain their export competitiveness against foreign suppliers. He also warned that businesses would have to tap additional bank financing facilities to support operations to narrow the capital gap, which could lead to elevated interest and production costs.
“What we should do for now is to make sure that the government effectively enforce existing rules. Any regulatory improvements should be accompanied by optimal implementation,” Yustinus said.
The industry is also facing other costs. Palm oil businesses have to pay a duty of $148 per metric ton of their shipments. There is also an export levy of $124.56 per metric ton. The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reported that Indonesian palm oil exports totaled $12.27 billion in the first half of 2026. The latest foreign currency lockup rule has been in effect since June.
This excerpt is from an article published by Jakartaglobe.id under the headline "Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Fear FX Lock-Up’s Effect on Liquidity". Click the following link to read the full article: https://jakartaglobe.id/business/indonesian-palm-oil-producers-fear-fx-lockups-effect-on-liquidity.
Author : Tri Listiyarini
https://jakartaglobe.id/business/indonesian-palm-oil-producers-fear-fx-lockups-effect-on-liquidity
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Egypt, Indonesia Explore Dual Trade Deals to Expand North African Investment Footprint
Key Takeaways
● Indonesian and Egyptian trade ministers agreed to explore parallel negotiations for both a Preferential Trade Agreement and a full Free Trade Agreement.
● Two-way trade reached $1.74 billion in the first half of 2026, with Jakarta maintaining a robust trade surplus of over $442 million.
● Both nations aim to convene the second Joint Trade Committee meeting before the end of 2026 to formalize negotiation roadmaps and engage private sector partners.
● Proposed collaborative initiatives include joint ventures in garment manufacturing and targeted virtual forums for agricultural trade.
JAIPUR, Investortrust.id — Indonesia and Egypt are moving to accelerate commercial ties through a dual-track trade framework, aiming to convert long-standing diplomatic alignment into structured bilateral investment and expanded market access across North Africa and Southeast Asia.
Following up on a strategic partnership declaration signed by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in April 2025, Trade Minister Budi Santoso held bilateral talks with Egyptian Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade Mohamed Farid Saleh in Jaipur, India, on Friday, Aug. 7, 2026. The meeting occurred on the sidelines of the BRICS Trade Ministers Meeting.
For Southeast Asia’s largest economy, formalizing a trade corridor with Egypt provides a strategic gateway into North African and Middle Eastern markets. While Indonesia maintains a consistent trade surplus with Cairo driven by agricultural and palm oil exports, establishing preferential and free trade agreements reduces tariff exposure, opens opportunities for manufacturing joint ventures, and hedges against shifting trade rules in Western markets.
https://investortrust.id/international/112259/egypt-indonesia-explore-dual-trade-deals-to-expand-north-african-investment-footprint?page=english-edition
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August 09, 2026
MPOB turns palm oil into water-saving cooling solution for data centres
KUALA LUMPUR — THE Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) has developed Sawit EcoTherm, a palm-based immersion cooling fluid that can significantly reduce water consumption and energy use in data centres while supporting more sustainable digital infrastructure.
Dr Noor Khairin Mohd, senior research officer at the process engineering and design unit of MPOB Advanced Oleochemical Technology Division said Sawit EcoTherm transforms data centre cooling from a water-intensive process into a water-free cooling solution, to protect Malaysia’s water resources while boosting digital economy growth.
She said data centres traditional water-cooling systems projected to consume a staggering 876 million litres of water daily for Malaysia which is equivalent to the water needs of nearly four million people.
“This technology replaces conventional air-and water-based cooling systems. Instead of using cooling towers that consume large amounts of water through evaporation, server components are fully immersed in a non-conductive dielectric fluid that continuously removes heat in a closed-loop system.
“If widely adopted, immersion cooling with Sawit EcoTherm could significantly reduce the water demand of the data centre industry,” she told Bernama.
Noor Khairin said Sawit EcoTherm combines locally sourced renewable raw materials with water-free operation, energy efficiency and high-performance cooling, making it a promising solution for next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) and hyperscale data centres.
“Sawit EcoTherm stands out because it combines high-performance cooling with sustainability and local resource advantages, using a palm oil-based, non-conductive immersion cooling fluid produced from locally sourced Malaysian palm oil.
“AI servers generate three to five times more heat than conventional servers. Therefore, immersion cooling can handle much higher heat loads than conventional air cooling, enabling higher computing density, improved energy efficiency and more reliable operation for next-generation AI infrastructure,” she said.
In terms of sustainability, she said Sawit EcoTherm also supports data centre operators in achieving their environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals by addressing four key sustainability priorities: water conservation, energy efficiency, carbon emissions reduction and environmental protection.
“The technology improves energy efficiency by cooling server components directly, eliminating server fans and substantially reducing energy consumption by around 30%-50%, contributing to improved power usage effectiveness (PUE).
“It also helps reduce carbon emissions, as lower electricity consumption translates directly into lower indirect (Scope 2) greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs),” she said.
Noor Khairin said Sawit EcoTherm is also produced from up to 95% renewable, bio-based palm-derived materials, reducing reliance on petroleum-based cooling fluids which improves overall environmental performance.
“It is PFAS-free (free from “forever chemicals”), readily biodegradable, and has low ecological toxicity, reducing environmental risks associated with accidental leaks or disposal compared to conventional synthetic cooling fluids,” she noted. (PFAS, which stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are highly resistant to breakdown.)
https://themalaysianreserve.com/2026/08/09/mpob-turns-palm-oil-into-water-saving-cooling-solution-for-data-centres/amp/
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Uzbekistan and Malaysia strengthen cooperation in food security
The Uzbek Agency for Technical Regulation hosted a meeting between the Agency’s Deputy Director, Jurabek Shakarov, and representatives of the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC).
The parties discussed the issues of ensuring food products’ safety, the development and implementation of international standards, as well as the improvement of the product quality and safety assessment system.
As noted, in modern market conditions, ensuring the quality and safety of products is essential not only for consumer protection, but also for the development of foreign trade and access to international markets.
During the meeting, the MPOC delegation became familiar with the activities of modern testing laboratories in the Agency’s system.
The foreign guests were informed about high-precision testing equipment, product verification based on international requirements, assessment of quality and safety indicators, as well as conformity assessment processes.
During the negotiations, special emphasis was placed on the exchange of experience in technical regulation, standardization, conformity assessment and laboratory testing.
An agreement was reached on improving specialists’ skills, conducting joint workshops and training programs, studying advanced foreign experience in the industry and developing practical cooperation.
Following the meeting, the parties expressed their readiness to expand cooperation, implement joint projects and consistently continue the exchange of experience.
https://uza.uz/en/posts/uzbekistan-and-malaysia-strengthen-cooperation-in-food-security_892484
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Illinois Governor announces agreement between state and Republic of Indonesia
CHICAGO, Ill. (WTWO/WAWV)— Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker announced a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the state and the Republic of Indonesia alongside officials from both areas.
The governor was joined by the Ambassador and Director General of American and European Affairs for Indonesia, Grata Endah Werdaningtyas, Illinois leaders, and Indonesian officials in his announcement on Friday. The agreement between the two areas will be focused on expanding trade, opening new markets for Illinois farmers, and strengthening cooperation across business, education, and workforce development.
"Illinois and Indonesia are both growing and dynamic economies, poised to lead in the industries of tomorrow, and we know that our future prosperity and growth require strong international relationships," said Governor JB Pritzker. "This Memorandum of Understanding will encourage greater cooperation between Illinois and Indonesia in areas where we have shared interests and shared opportunities, from agriculture and clean energy to medicine and pharmaceuticals and beyond."
According to the release, Indonesia has the largest economy in Southeast Asia. Illinois has a current economic relationship with the country as well with the state exporting $715.4 million in goods to the country in 2024, an increase of 18% over the year before. These numbers make Indonesia currently the 20th‑largest export market and making Illinois third among U.S. states in exports to the country.
"Signing this agreement marks a significant milestone in strengthening the direct partnership between Indonesia and Illinois," said Grata Endah Werdaningtyas, the Ambassador and Director General of American and European Affairs for Indonesia. "We look forward to translating this commitment into tangible initiatives that foster innovation, expand trade and investment, and create lasting economic opportunities and shared prosperity for both Indonesia and Illinois."
https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/illinois-governor-announces-agreement-between-180234894.html
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Indonesia must boost smallholder palm oil productivity: GAPKI
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI) has said improving smallholder farmer productivity must be a shared priority so Indonesia can meet domestic demand while maintaining its position as the world’s top palm oil producer.
According to GAPKI Chairman Eddy Martono, in a statement received here on Saturday, the palm oil sector has emerged as one of the main pillars of the national economy during difficult periods, thanks to its significant foreign exchange earnings and ability to sustain employment.
“During the pandemic, palm oil foreign exchange earnings reached around US$39.2 billion. Even when many sectors were laying off workers, the palm oil industry continued to create new job opportunities,” he said at the 9th Borneo Forum 2026 in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, held from August 5 to 8, 2026.
He added that one of the strategic measures being continuously promoted is the acceleration of the Smallholder Palm Oil Replanting Program (PSR), supported by the Plantation Fund Management Agency (BPDP).
The program is expected to boost smallholder plantation productivity through the use of superior seeds, technology adoption, and continuous mentoring.
Meanwhile, East Kalimantan Deputy Governor Seno Aji said the future of the palm oil industry would become stronger if it rested on three pillars: resilience in facing change, courage to pursue innovation, and the ability to transform.
“Therefore, the East Kalimantan provincial government continues to encourage the development of palm oil-based downstream industries. We want East Kalimantan’s potential to generate greater added value, strengthen investment, develop derivative industries, and provide broader benefits for the public,” Aji said.
Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data shows that the export value of crude palm oil (CPO) and its derivatives reached US$4.69 billion from January to February 2026, a 26.40-percent increase from US$3.71 billion during the same period the previous year.
The increase was seen not only in value but also in volume, with exports rising from 3.33 million tons to 4.54 million tons over the same period.
According to an official GAPKI release dated March 13, 2026, Indonesia’s CPO production reached 51.66 million tons in 2025, up 7.26 percent, or around 3.5 million tons, from the previous year. Total CPO and palm kernel oil (PKO) production reached 56.55 million tons, an increase of 7.18 percent.
https://en.antaranews.com/amp/news/426179/indonesia-must-boost-smallholder-palm-oil-productivity-gapki
MPOB turns palm oil into water-saving cooling solution for data centres
KUALA LUMPUR — THE Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) has developed Sawit EcoTherm, a palm-based immersion cooling fluid that can significantly reduce water consumption and energy use in data centres while supporting more sustainable digital infrastructure.
Dr Noor Khairin Mohd, senior research officer at the process engineering and design unit of MPOB Advanced Oleochemical Technology Division said Sawit EcoTherm transforms data centre cooling from a water-intensive process into a water-free cooling solution, to protect Malaysia’s water resources while boosting digital economy growth.
She said data centres traditional water-cooling systems projected to consume a staggering 876 million litres of water daily for Malaysia which is equivalent to the water needs of nearly four million people.
“This technology replaces conventional air-and water-based cooling systems. Instead of using cooling towers that consume large amounts of water through evaporation, server components are fully immersed in a non-conductive dielectric fluid that continuously removes heat in a closed-loop system.
“If widely adopted, immersion cooling with Sawit EcoTherm could significantly reduce the water demand of the data centre industry,” she told Bernama.
Noor Khairin said Sawit EcoTherm combines locally sourced renewable raw materials with water-free operation, energy efficiency and high-performance cooling, making it a promising solution for next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) and hyperscale data centres.
“Sawit EcoTherm stands out because it combines high-performance cooling with sustainability and local resource advantages, using a palm oil-based, non-conductive immersion cooling fluid produced from locally sourced Malaysian palm oil.
“AI servers generate three to five times more heat than conventional servers. Therefore, immersion cooling can handle much higher heat loads than conventional air cooling, enabling higher computing density, improved energy efficiency and more reliable operation for next-generation AI infrastructure,” she said.
In terms of sustainability, she said Sawit EcoTherm also supports data centre operators in achieving their environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals by addressing four key sustainability priorities: water conservation, energy efficiency, carbon emissions reduction and environmental protection.
“The technology improves energy efficiency by cooling server components directly, eliminating server fans and substantially reducing energy consumption by around 30%-50%, contributing to improved power usage effectiveness (PUE).
“It also helps reduce carbon emissions, as lower electricity consumption translates directly into lower indirect (Scope 2) greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs),” she said.
Noor Khairin said Sawit EcoTherm is also produced from up to 95% renewable, bio-based palm-derived materials, reducing reliance on petroleum-based cooling fluids which improves overall environmental performance.
“It is PFAS-free (free from “forever chemicals”), readily biodegradable, and has low ecological toxicity, reducing environmental risks associated with accidental leaks or disposal compared to conventional synthetic cooling fluids,” she noted. (PFAS, which stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are highly resistant to breakdown.)
https://themalaysianreserve.com/2026/08/09/mpob-turns-palm-oil-into-water-saving-cooling-solution-for-data-centres/amp/
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Uzbekistan and Malaysia strengthen cooperation in food security
The Uzbek Agency for Technical Regulation hosted a meeting between the Agency’s Deputy Director, Jurabek Shakarov, and representatives of the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC).
The parties discussed the issues of ensuring food products’ safety, the development and implementation of international standards, as well as the improvement of the product quality and safety assessment system.
As noted, in modern market conditions, ensuring the quality and safety of products is essential not only for consumer protection, but also for the development of foreign trade and access to international markets.
During the meeting, the MPOC delegation became familiar with the activities of modern testing laboratories in the Agency’s system.
The foreign guests were informed about high-precision testing equipment, product verification based on international requirements, assessment of quality and safety indicators, as well as conformity assessment processes.
During the negotiations, special emphasis was placed on the exchange of experience in technical regulation, standardization, conformity assessment and laboratory testing.
An agreement was reached on improving specialists’ skills, conducting joint workshops and training programs, studying advanced foreign experience in the industry and developing practical cooperation.
Following the meeting, the parties expressed their readiness to expand cooperation, implement joint projects and consistently continue the exchange of experience.
https://uza.uz/en/posts/uzbekistan-and-malaysia-strengthen-cooperation-in-food-security_892484
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Illinois Governor announces agreement between state and Republic of Indonesia
CHICAGO, Ill. (WTWO/WAWV)— Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker announced a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the state and the Republic of Indonesia alongside officials from both areas.
The governor was joined by the Ambassador and Director General of American and European Affairs for Indonesia, Grata Endah Werdaningtyas, Illinois leaders, and Indonesian officials in his announcement on Friday. The agreement between the two areas will be focused on expanding trade, opening new markets for Illinois farmers, and strengthening cooperation across business, education, and workforce development.
"Illinois and Indonesia are both growing and dynamic economies, poised to lead in the industries of tomorrow, and we know that our future prosperity and growth require strong international relationships," said Governor JB Pritzker. "This Memorandum of Understanding will encourage greater cooperation between Illinois and Indonesia in areas where we have shared interests and shared opportunities, from agriculture and clean energy to medicine and pharmaceuticals and beyond."
According to the release, Indonesia has the largest economy in Southeast Asia. Illinois has a current economic relationship with the country as well with the state exporting $715.4 million in goods to the country in 2024, an increase of 18% over the year before. These numbers make Indonesia currently the 20th‑largest export market and making Illinois third among U.S. states in exports to the country.
"Signing this agreement marks a significant milestone in strengthening the direct partnership between Indonesia and Illinois," said Grata Endah Werdaningtyas, the Ambassador and Director General of American and European Affairs for Indonesia. "We look forward to translating this commitment into tangible initiatives that foster innovation, expand trade and investment, and create lasting economic opportunities and shared prosperity for both Indonesia and Illinois."
https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/illinois-governor-announces-agreement-between-180234894.html
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Indonesia must boost smallholder palm oil productivity: GAPKI
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI) has said improving smallholder farmer productivity must be a shared priority so Indonesia can meet domestic demand while maintaining its position as the world’s top palm oil producer.
According to GAPKI Chairman Eddy Martono, in a statement received here on Saturday, the palm oil sector has emerged as one of the main pillars of the national economy during difficult periods, thanks to its significant foreign exchange earnings and ability to sustain employment.
“During the pandemic, palm oil foreign exchange earnings reached around US$39.2 billion. Even when many sectors were laying off workers, the palm oil industry continued to create new job opportunities,” he said at the 9th Borneo Forum 2026 in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, held from August 5 to 8, 2026.
He added that one of the strategic measures being continuously promoted is the acceleration of the Smallholder Palm Oil Replanting Program (PSR), supported by the Plantation Fund Management Agency (BPDP).
The program is expected to boost smallholder plantation productivity through the use of superior seeds, technology adoption, and continuous mentoring.
Meanwhile, East Kalimantan Deputy Governor Seno Aji said the future of the palm oil industry would become stronger if it rested on three pillars: resilience in facing change, courage to pursue innovation, and the ability to transform.
“Therefore, the East Kalimantan provincial government continues to encourage the development of palm oil-based downstream industries. We want East Kalimantan’s potential to generate greater added value, strengthen investment, develop derivative industries, and provide broader benefits for the public,” Aji said.
Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data shows that the export value of crude palm oil (CPO) and its derivatives reached US$4.69 billion from January to February 2026, a 26.40-percent increase from US$3.71 billion during the same period the previous year.
The increase was seen not only in value but also in volume, with exports rising from 3.33 million tons to 4.54 million tons over the same period.
According to an official GAPKI release dated March 13, 2026, Indonesia’s CPO production reached 51.66 million tons in 2025, up 7.26 percent, or around 3.5 million tons, from the previous year. Total CPO and palm kernel oil (PKO) production reached 56.55 million tons, an increase of 7.18 percent.
https://en.antaranews.com/amp/news/426179/indonesia-must-boost-smallholder-palm-oil-productivity-gapki
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August 08, 2026
Southeast Asian palm harvesting disrupted by rising cost of diesel, supply crunch
Summary
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Palm oil harvests on Southeast Asia's islands of Borneo and Sumatra are being disrupted as rising prices of fuel and supply shortages force smallholders to cut back on fruit collection, threatening yields of the world's most widely used edible oil.
Longer harvest disruptions could curb output in top producers Indonesia and Malaysia with an El Nino weather pattern expected to cut rain and dent yields after Malaysian benchmark palm futures have risen more than 15% this year.
The impact on harvesting has been worst in the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak on Borneo, where unsubsidised diesel prices have surged almost 120%, while farmers on Indonesia's Sumatra have been hit by fuel shortages, industry officials say.
"Financial constraints will make it unviable for smallholders to harvest crops, leading to abandoned fields and a direct decline in state palm oil productivity," said Napolean R Ningkos of the Sarawak Dayak Oil Palm Planters Association.
Sabah and Sarawak together accounted for 43.9% of Malaysia's crude palm oil output of 20.28 million metric tons in 2025, making a vital contribution to world supplies of palm, which is used in items from cooking oil to household products.
Sumatra accounts for 55% of Indonesia's palm oil output, data from the agriculture ministry show.
RUGGED TERRAIN, EXPENSIVE FUEL
The remote locations of Borneo's sprawling palm plantations make it harder for farmers to gather and transport bunches of the fresh fruit to collection points or mills, officials said.
While Malaysia provides subsidised diesel at 2.10 ringgit per litre, capped at 200 litres a month, the allocation falls well short of farmers' average operational needs of at least 500 litres a month, said Napolean, the association's president.
"Farmers have now reduced their harvesting rounds from around 2.5 rounds to 2 rounds to just 1.5 rounds, or one each month," he added.
"Their journey involves significant fuel consumption. The current diesel subsidy quotas, designed for the relatively flat lands and infrastructure of West Malaysia, are inadequate for Sabah and Sarawak's rugged interior."
The concern comes as global fuel prices have risen and supplies tightened since the U.S.-Israel war on Iran broke out in late February.
The prospect of the El Nino in the latter half of the year is another dark spot in the outlook. Severe El Nino conditions in 2015 and 2016 cut palm oil output in Malaysia by up to 18%, while Indonesia's output dropped by 3%.
HIGHER TRANSPORT, POWER AND MACHINERY COSTS
Raphael Golout, president of the United Sabah Smallholders Association, representing owners of small landholdings, said the greater financial burden stemmed not only from higher transport costs but also bigger expenses on power generators and other machinery.
Napolean and Raphael called for revision of the diesel subsidy policy to better reflect the geographical and economic challenges faced by farmers in Sabah and Sarawak.
The harvesting delays could reduce Sarawak's yields by 15% to 20%, Napolean said.
In Sumatra, one of Indonesia's main palm oil hubs, farmers' operations have been curtailed by tight diesel supplies since mid-July, said Gulat Manurung, the chairman of smallholders' farm group APKASINDO.
"Farmers' fruit bunch transportation was affected, as all vehicles and equipment used diesel engines," he said, a problem resolved with longer harvesting intervals of eight to 12 days from the usual period of eight to 10 days.
Reporting by Ashley Tang in Kuala Lumpur and Bernadette Christina in Jakarta; Editing by Naveen Thukral and Clarence Fernandez https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/southeast-asian-palm-harvesting-disrupted-by-rising-cost-diesel-supply-crunch-2026-08-07/
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Europeans want affordable renewables, survey finds
A new EuroPulse survey of 26,000 people across 24 EU member states and the UK has found that Europeans favour a transition away from imported fossil oil towards locally produced renewable energy, but want governments to ensure affordability.
The poll, conducted by independent not-for-profit firm Project Tempo, concluded that affordability has become the defining issue in Europe's energy debate. 'Cost is king,' the firm said.
The survey found Europeans still oppose a ban on new petrol and diesel cars by 2035, by 46% to 27%. Respondents also ranked energy independence and air quality as higher priorities than tackling climate change.
European ethanol producers association ePURE has seized on the findings, arguing that domestically produced renewable ethanol offers a ready-made solution to the affordability concerns identified in the poll.
The association points to ethanol's greenhouse gas reduction performance, which it says cuts emissions from petrol and hybrid cars by more than 80% on average, alongside its production from multipurpose crops grown by European farmers. Ethanol production also yields food, animal feed and biogenic CO2, and causes no deforestation, ePURE said.
Several European commissioners, including commission president Ursula von der Leyen, have cited renewable ethanol as a strategic asset for EU energy independence.
The findings come as France and Germany seek to reconcile technology flexibility in the EU approach to transport decarbonisation with a desire to favour a made-in-Europe value chain.
EU policymakers return from the summer recess to resume work on key legislation including a revision of car emission standards and the post-2030 renewable energy legal framework.
https://biofuels-news.com/news/europeans-want-affordable-renewables-survey-finds-as-ethanol-industry-presses-case/
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Uzbekistan and MPOC to Implement Palm Oil Standards
Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — Belvinder Sron, Chief Executive Officer of the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC), and Oybek Zufarov, Chairman of the Association of Producers of Vegetable Oils of Uzbekistan (APVO), held a series of meetings with Uzbek government officials to discuss expanding cooperation in food safety and the oil and fat industry, according to APVO.
During an international conference, talks were held with Kahramon Yuldashev, Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Uzbekistan, and Zhurabek Shakarbaev, Deputy Director of the Uzbek Agency for Technical Regulation under the Cabinet of Ministers.
The parties reviewed prospects for further interaction in food security, oil and fat industry development, and the implementation of modern technologies.
During their visit to the Uzbek Agency for Technical Regulation, MPOC and APVO delegations toured a modern testing laboratory.
Following the meetings, the sides agreed to work together on introducing international standards for palm oil and palm oil-based products in Uzbekistan.
https://www.uzdaily.uz/en/uzbekistan-and-mpoc-to-implement-palm-oil-standards/
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Cheap imports are undercutting the oil palm business for Okomu Oil and Presco
Cheap palm oil imports are beginning to undercut domestic crude palm oil (CPO) prices, forcing local producers Okomu Oil and Presco to report their weakest revenue performance in years.
This is according to the H1 2026 financial statements released by both companies, which point to mounting pressure on domestic pricing despite healthy production volumes.
The results suggest that increased imports of cheaper palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia, following changes to import duty policy, are beginning to erode the pricing power that local producers have enjoyed in recent years.
What the data is saying
Presco and Okomu, which together account for more than 99% of the sector’s combined revenue, are facing downward price pressure as cheaper imported palm oil continues to undercut domestic CPO prices.
More Insights
Presco demonstrated stronger operational resilience than Okomu during the period, posting an 83.4% gross profit margin compared with Okomu’s 64.4%.
https://nairametrics.com/2026/08/07/cheap-imports-are-undercutting-the-oil-palm-business-for-okomu-oil-and-presco/
Southeast Asian palm harvesting disrupted by rising cost of diesel, supply crunch
Summary
- East Malaysian farmers cut harvest rounds to 1-1.5 times monthly
- Sarawak yields could fall 15%-20% if diesel prices stay high
- Indonesia farmers cut harvest on diesel shortage
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Palm oil harvests on Southeast Asia's islands of Borneo and Sumatra are being disrupted as rising prices of fuel and supply shortages force smallholders to cut back on fruit collection, threatening yields of the world's most widely used edible oil.
Longer harvest disruptions could curb output in top producers Indonesia and Malaysia with an El Nino weather pattern expected to cut rain and dent yields after Malaysian benchmark palm futures have risen more than 15% this year.
The impact on harvesting has been worst in the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak on Borneo, where unsubsidised diesel prices have surged almost 120%, while farmers on Indonesia's Sumatra have been hit by fuel shortages, industry officials say.
"Financial constraints will make it unviable for smallholders to harvest crops, leading to abandoned fields and a direct decline in state palm oil productivity," said Napolean R Ningkos of the Sarawak Dayak Oil Palm Planters Association.
Sabah and Sarawak together accounted for 43.9% of Malaysia's crude palm oil output of 20.28 million metric tons in 2025, making a vital contribution to world supplies of palm, which is used in items from cooking oil to household products.
Sumatra accounts for 55% of Indonesia's palm oil output, data from the agriculture ministry show.
RUGGED TERRAIN, EXPENSIVE FUEL
The remote locations of Borneo's sprawling palm plantations make it harder for farmers to gather and transport bunches of the fresh fruit to collection points or mills, officials said.
While Malaysia provides subsidised diesel at 2.10 ringgit per litre, capped at 200 litres a month, the allocation falls well short of farmers' average operational needs of at least 500 litres a month, said Napolean, the association's president.
"Farmers have now reduced their harvesting rounds from around 2.5 rounds to 2 rounds to just 1.5 rounds, or one each month," he added.
"Their journey involves significant fuel consumption. The current diesel subsidy quotas, designed for the relatively flat lands and infrastructure of West Malaysia, are inadequate for Sabah and Sarawak's rugged interior."
The concern comes as global fuel prices have risen and supplies tightened since the U.S.-Israel war on Iran broke out in late February.
The prospect of the El Nino in the latter half of the year is another dark spot in the outlook. Severe El Nino conditions in 2015 and 2016 cut palm oil output in Malaysia by up to 18%, while Indonesia's output dropped by 3%.
HIGHER TRANSPORT, POWER AND MACHINERY COSTS
Raphael Golout, president of the United Sabah Smallholders Association, representing owners of small landholdings, said the greater financial burden stemmed not only from higher transport costs but also bigger expenses on power generators and other machinery.
Napolean and Raphael called for revision of the diesel subsidy policy to better reflect the geographical and economic challenges faced by farmers in Sabah and Sarawak.
The harvesting delays could reduce Sarawak's yields by 15% to 20%, Napolean said.
In Sumatra, one of Indonesia's main palm oil hubs, farmers' operations have been curtailed by tight diesel supplies since mid-July, said Gulat Manurung, the chairman of smallholders' farm group APKASINDO.
"Farmers' fruit bunch transportation was affected, as all vehicles and equipment used diesel engines," he said, a problem resolved with longer harvesting intervals of eight to 12 days from the usual period of eight to 10 days.
Reporting by Ashley Tang in Kuala Lumpur and Bernadette Christina in Jakarta; Editing by Naveen Thukral and Clarence Fernandez https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/southeast-asian-palm-harvesting-disrupted-by-rising-cost-diesel-supply-crunch-2026-08-07/
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Europeans want affordable renewables, survey finds
A new EuroPulse survey of 26,000 people across 24 EU member states and the UK has found that Europeans favour a transition away from imported fossil oil towards locally produced renewable energy, but want governments to ensure affordability.
The poll, conducted by independent not-for-profit firm Project Tempo, concluded that affordability has become the defining issue in Europe's energy debate. 'Cost is king,' the firm said.
The survey found Europeans still oppose a ban on new petrol and diesel cars by 2035, by 46% to 27%. Respondents also ranked energy independence and air quality as higher priorities than tackling climate change.
European ethanol producers association ePURE has seized on the findings, arguing that domestically produced renewable ethanol offers a ready-made solution to the affordability concerns identified in the poll.
The association points to ethanol's greenhouse gas reduction performance, which it says cuts emissions from petrol and hybrid cars by more than 80% on average, alongside its production from multipurpose crops grown by European farmers. Ethanol production also yields food, animal feed and biogenic CO2, and causes no deforestation, ePURE said.
Several European commissioners, including commission president Ursula von der Leyen, have cited renewable ethanol as a strategic asset for EU energy independence.
The findings come as France and Germany seek to reconcile technology flexibility in the EU approach to transport decarbonisation with a desire to favour a made-in-Europe value chain.
EU policymakers return from the summer recess to resume work on key legislation including a revision of car emission standards and the post-2030 renewable energy legal framework.
https://biofuels-news.com/news/europeans-want-affordable-renewables-survey-finds-as-ethanol-industry-presses-case/
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Uzbekistan and MPOC to Implement Palm Oil Standards
Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — Belvinder Sron, Chief Executive Officer of the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC), and Oybek Zufarov, Chairman of the Association of Producers of Vegetable Oils of Uzbekistan (APVO), held a series of meetings with Uzbek government officials to discuss expanding cooperation in food safety and the oil and fat industry, according to APVO.
During an international conference, talks were held with Kahramon Yuldashev, Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Uzbekistan, and Zhurabek Shakarbaev, Deputy Director of the Uzbek Agency for Technical Regulation under the Cabinet of Ministers.
The parties reviewed prospects for further interaction in food security, oil and fat industry development, and the implementation of modern technologies.
During their visit to the Uzbek Agency for Technical Regulation, MPOC and APVO delegations toured a modern testing laboratory.
Following the meetings, the sides agreed to work together on introducing international standards for palm oil and palm oil-based products in Uzbekistan.
https://www.uzdaily.uz/en/uzbekistan-and-mpoc-to-implement-palm-oil-standards/
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Cheap imports are undercutting the oil palm business for Okomu Oil and Presco
Cheap palm oil imports are beginning to undercut domestic crude palm oil (CPO) prices, forcing local producers Okomu Oil and Presco to report their weakest revenue performance in years.
This is according to the H1 2026 financial statements released by both companies, which point to mounting pressure on domestic pricing despite healthy production volumes.
The results suggest that increased imports of cheaper palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia, following changes to import duty policy, are beginning to erode the pricing power that local producers have enjoyed in recent years.
What the data is saying
Presco and Okomu, which together account for more than 99% of the sector’s combined revenue, are facing downward price pressure as cheaper imported palm oil continues to undercut domestic CPO prices.
- Presco’s revenue was flat year-on-year in H1 2026 at N198 billion, marking the first time since 2018 that the company has failed to record revenue growth during the period.
- Okomu Oil’s revenue declined 3.5% year-on-year to N125.3 billion, while Presco’s pre-tax profit rose 9.2% compared with a 12% decline reported by Okomu Oil. In the corresponding period of 2025, both companies had recorded triple-digit pre-tax profit growth.
- Okomu attributed the weaker performance to import-driven competition, stating: “A decline in domestic palm oil sales driven by persistent import-driven competitive pressures impacted Crude Palm Oil prices during the period. Strong domestic demand is expected to continue supporting revenue growth, and margin performance should remain healthy if production efficiencies are sustained.”
More Insights
Presco demonstrated stronger operational resilience than Okomu during the period, posting an 83.4% gross profit margin compared with Okomu’s 64.4%.
https://nairametrics.com/2026/08/07/cheap-imports-are-undercutting-the-oil-palm-business-for-okomu-oil-and-presco/
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August 07, 2026
India accelerates edible oil self-sufficiency drive amid Indonesia’s export restrictions
Indonesia’s tighter controls on palm oil and palm product exports are prompting India to accelerate the development of its domestic edible oil industry. Against the backdrop of restrictions on feedstocks used for biofuels, New Delhi sees the situation as an opportunity to reduce import dependence and strengthen its food and energy security.
Indonesia continues to ban exports of palm oil mill effluent (POME) and used cooking oil (UCO), reserving these feedstocks for domestic biodiesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production. The government is also considering centralizing exports of strategic raw materials through state-owned enterprises.
In response, India is stepping up implementation of its National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP), launched in 2021. By March 2026, oil palm plantations had expanded to about 640 thsd ha, close to the target of 650 thousand hectares, while crude palm oil production is projected to reach 1.5 mln tons by the 2030/31 financial year, nearly triple current output.
Experts note that southern Indian states offer suitable conditions for oil palm cultivation. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana account for about 98% of the country’s production, and expanding plantations has significantly increased farm profitability compared with traditional crops.
The sector’s expansion is also aligned with environmental goals. New plantations are being established mainly on degraded land, while processing waste is used to produce biogas. As a result, India aims not only to reduce edible oil imports but also to accelerate renewable energy development and strengthen the competitiveness of its agricultural sector.
https://ukragroconsult.com/en/news/india-accelerates-edible-oil-self-sufficiency-drive-amid-indonesias-export-restrictions/
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Indonesia’s palm oil curbs could open the door for India to step up domestic production
Indonesia has extended its export ban on palm oil mill effluent (POME) and used cooking oil, to boost its own biodiesel and sustainable aviation fuel plans. It has also announced plans to centralise crude palm oil exports through a state-owned company. These steps show Indonesia tightening control over global palm oil supply.
This is a chance for India to grow its own palm oil production and reduce dependence on imports. This would protect India from price swings in the global market and reduce the import bill.
India launched the National Mission on Edible Oils-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) in 2021. The goal was to bring 6.5 lakh hectares under oil palm cultivation by 2025-26. As of March 2026, India had reached 6.4 lakh hectares. Palm oil output is expected to triple to 1.5 million metric tonnes by 2030-31, once young plantations start yielding fruit.
Some say India’s climate does not suit oil palm. This is not accurate. Southern India, especially Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, has the right conditions with proper irrigation. These two states already produce 98% of India’s palm oil. Farmers there have seen their incomes triple after switching to oil palm.
Palm oil cultivation has a poor environmental reputation because of deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia. But India’s oil palm expansion is different. New plantations are being planted on degraded or low-yield farmland, not on forest land. Oil palm also produces more oil per hectare than crops like soybean or sunflower, so it needs less land overall.
Oil palm plantations can also absorb carbon dioxide from the air. Palm oil by-products can be used to make biodiesel, cutting India’s diesel imports and emissions. Godrej Agrovet plans to produce compressed biogas from POME, which can replace natural gas in vehicles, cooking stoves, and electricity generation.
Oil palm grown with drip irrigation also uses less water than crops like rice or sugarcane.
In short, Indonesia’s export curbs are not a threat to India. They are a chance for India to become self-sufficient in edible oil, meet its sustainability goals, and improve farmer incomes.
Burjis Godrej, Chairperson Designate of Godrej Agrovet
https://www.telugutimes.net/en/bnews/indonesias-palm-oil-curbs-could-open-the-door-for-india-to-step-up-355854.html
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‘How to bridge Nigeria’s $600m crude palm oil imports’
The National President, Oil Palm Growers Association of Nigeria (OPGAN), Joe Onyiuke, has called on oil palm growers to embark on a replanting programme to repopulate the ageing plantations and wild grooves across the states to upscale crude palm oil production.
said opportunities abound in agriculture, “especially oil palm,” saying, “the missing link is the path way to using technology to add value and the logistics to move it.”
Onyiuke, who lent his support to the Delta State government’s drive to diversify its economy through the just concluded Economic Investment Summit in Asaba, the state capital, said oil palm growers must resolve to embark on replenishing the plantations to increase output.
“We must launch a replanting program to repopulate the ageing plantations and wild grooves across the state. This singular action will lift hundreds of thousands of small holders out of poverty permanently,” he said.
Onyiuke said OPGAN has a national 1.5 million hectare replanting plan to bring Nigeria to number three position in oil palm production globally and close the over $600million crude palm oil importation gap in the Nigeria.
With this program, “we intend to replant 225m seedlings across the 27 oil palm growing states in the country, in conjunction with NACCIMA’s one billion economic Tree Planting program, adding that there is need to set up certified nurseries across Delta State to be able to achieve the replanting target.
Onyiuke said Delta State is located within Nigeria’s traditional oil palm belt, saying this brings investment opportunities in large-scale plantations utilising the large number of small and medium holder oil palm farmers and, more importantly, automated processing mills to feed our massive domestic supply deficit in Nigeria for Crude Palm Oil (CPO) and Palm Kernel Oil (PKO) used in the food, cosmetic, energy, chemical and pharmaceutical industries. NigerianBusiness Coverage
He said proximity to ports and major industrial hubs in the South-South and South-East makes logistics easier for industrial off-takers, adding that with operational seaports in Warri, Kokoand proximity to the commercial hubs of Onitsha and Benin, investors have easy incentives to come in.
https://thenationonlineng.net/how-to-bridge-nigerias-600m-crude-palm-oil-imports/
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Dangote Refinery IPO: What this means for African markets
Dangote refinery is eyeing up a 5 billion dollar raise through its Nigerian initial public offering, alongside reports for a Johannesburg listing afterward. Meanwhile, the CEO of Nigeria’s Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority said Nigeria is working towards ending crude oil exports, noting the country’s expanding refining capacity. Joining CNBC Africa to discuss this further is Femi Oladehin, the Chief Executive of Argentil Capital Partners.
https://www.cnbcafrica.com/media/7786022696904/dangote-refinery-ipo-what-this-means-for-african-markets
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Indonesian rubber growers bet the farm on oil palm
Summary
JAKARTA, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Sumaryono, a 45-year-old Indonesian smallholder, risked everything three years ago when he pumped his life savings of about $2,200 into replacing his 10-hectare (25-acre) rubber plantation with oil palm trees.
Indonesia, the world's second-largest rubber supplier, accounting for 14% of global output, is seeing a wave of farmers like Sumaryono abandon rubber for palm oil in a shift that could tighten the global supply of rubber, a commodity used from automobiles to health care.
"Harvesting is done twice a month, we sell the fresh fruit bunches, and get cash. It doesn't need constant daily supervision like rubber," Sumaryono told Reuters over the phone from his plantation in the Banyuasin regency of South Sumatra province, Indonesia's top rubber producing region.
Rubber is more difficult to farm than oil palm: trees take five to seven years to generate returns and require tapping for the sticky sap every other day, which is becoming a major challenge as the number of skilled tappers has declined, said Rubber Services Singapore 1877 (RSS1877) director Kevan Mitchell.
Agriculture ministry data shows the land area for rubber plantations in Indonesia declined 17% over the last five years, from 3.78 million hectares in 2021 to an estimated 3.13 million hectares in 2026.
Production has dropped from more than 3 million metric tons in 2021 to a projected 2 million tons this year.
Arif Susanto, head of the rubber farmer association Apkarindo, said up to 500,000 hectares could have already shifted from rubber to oil palm in South Sumatra alone.
"The main trigger is simple: prices," he added.
Rubber prices, though recovering in the past two years, went into a protracted slump after hitting a record high in 2011. While palm oil prices have also been volatile, they surged to a record during the pandemic and are now getting support from biofuel mandates.
PALM VS RUBBER
"Farmers are converting because they see better returns from palm oil," said Kastolani, 63, who shifted to palm after four decades growing rubber.
He converted seven of his 11 hectares in the past two years, citing problems ranging from ageing trees to labour shortages, alongside stronger palm oil prices.
Indonesia is the world's largest producer of palm oil, and successive governments have actively promoted the industry, which now accounts for 8.3% of the country's exports and 3.5% of its GDP.
Widyantoko Sumarlin from the Indonesian Rubber Association (Gapkindo) said the shift had accelerated over the past seven to 10 years, driven largely by a surge in palm fresh fruit bunch prices while rubber prices stagnated.
Biodiesel demand was one of the factors, he added.
The agriculture ministry acknowledged falling rubber prices have been a factor fuelling the switch.
"The government is seeking to boost the rubber sector's competitiveness, while urging farmers to consider the long-term economic and sustainability impacts of converting plantations," said Heru Tri Widarto, secretary general of the Directorate General of Estate Crops.
INDUSTRY IMPACT
The tyre industry uses around 50% of Indonesia's natural rubber.
French tyre maker Michelin owns a rubber plantation in Indonesia, which feeds its local and international factories.
An expert from Michelin, who declined to be named because they were not authorised to speak to the media, said natural rubber production in Indonesia had dropped significantly over the past five years.
"The share of sourcing from Indonesia has declined due to limited availability, although the country remains a strategic and important supplier," the expert said.
Indonesian SIR20 has traded at parity with, and sometimes a premium to, Thai STR20 in recent weeks, a reversal from the past year, when Thai material was consistently the pricier grade, said Farah Miller, CEO of rubber analytics firm Helixtap Technologies. Thailand is the world's top rubber producer.
Therefore, buyers could have less room to substitute Thai material for the Indonesian shortfall.
The Indonesian decline has been offset by increased volumes from other regions such as West Africa.
Ivory Coast has picked up some of that share, with African cargoes seeing more activity as the EU's December 2026 deforestation-regulation deadline approaches, added Miller.
Reporting by Dewi Kurniawati; Additional reporting by Emily Ou Yong in Singapore; Editing by Gibran Peshimam and Kate Mayberry
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/indonesian-rubber-growers-bet-farm-oil-palm-2026-08-07/
India accelerates edible oil self-sufficiency drive amid Indonesia’s export restrictions
Indonesia’s tighter controls on palm oil and palm product exports are prompting India to accelerate the development of its domestic edible oil industry. Against the backdrop of restrictions on feedstocks used for biofuels, New Delhi sees the situation as an opportunity to reduce import dependence and strengthen its food and energy security.
Indonesia continues to ban exports of palm oil mill effluent (POME) and used cooking oil (UCO), reserving these feedstocks for domestic biodiesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production. The government is also considering centralizing exports of strategic raw materials through state-owned enterprises.
In response, India is stepping up implementation of its National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP), launched in 2021. By March 2026, oil palm plantations had expanded to about 640 thsd ha, close to the target of 650 thousand hectares, while crude palm oil production is projected to reach 1.5 mln tons by the 2030/31 financial year, nearly triple current output.
Experts note that southern Indian states offer suitable conditions for oil palm cultivation. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana account for about 98% of the country’s production, and expanding plantations has significantly increased farm profitability compared with traditional crops.
The sector’s expansion is also aligned with environmental goals. New plantations are being established mainly on degraded land, while processing waste is used to produce biogas. As a result, India aims not only to reduce edible oil imports but also to accelerate renewable energy development and strengthen the competitiveness of its agricultural sector.
https://ukragroconsult.com/en/news/india-accelerates-edible-oil-self-sufficiency-drive-amid-indonesias-export-restrictions/
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Indonesia’s palm oil curbs could open the door for India to step up domestic production
Indonesia has extended its export ban on palm oil mill effluent (POME) and used cooking oil, to boost its own biodiesel and sustainable aviation fuel plans. It has also announced plans to centralise crude palm oil exports through a state-owned company. These steps show Indonesia tightening control over global palm oil supply.
This is a chance for India to grow its own palm oil production and reduce dependence on imports. This would protect India from price swings in the global market and reduce the import bill.
India launched the National Mission on Edible Oils-Oil Palm (NMEO-OP) in 2021. The goal was to bring 6.5 lakh hectares under oil palm cultivation by 2025-26. As of March 2026, India had reached 6.4 lakh hectares. Palm oil output is expected to triple to 1.5 million metric tonnes by 2030-31, once young plantations start yielding fruit.
Some say India’s climate does not suit oil palm. This is not accurate. Southern India, especially Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, has the right conditions with proper irrigation. These two states already produce 98% of India’s palm oil. Farmers there have seen their incomes triple after switching to oil palm.
Palm oil cultivation has a poor environmental reputation because of deforestation in Indonesia and Malaysia. But India’s oil palm expansion is different. New plantations are being planted on degraded or low-yield farmland, not on forest land. Oil palm also produces more oil per hectare than crops like soybean or sunflower, so it needs less land overall.
Oil palm plantations can also absorb carbon dioxide from the air. Palm oil by-products can be used to make biodiesel, cutting India’s diesel imports and emissions. Godrej Agrovet plans to produce compressed biogas from POME, which can replace natural gas in vehicles, cooking stoves, and electricity generation.
Oil palm grown with drip irrigation also uses less water than crops like rice or sugarcane.
In short, Indonesia’s export curbs are not a threat to India. They are a chance for India to become self-sufficient in edible oil, meet its sustainability goals, and improve farmer incomes.
Burjis Godrej, Chairperson Designate of Godrej Agrovet
https://www.telugutimes.net/en/bnews/indonesias-palm-oil-curbs-could-open-the-door-for-india-to-step-up-355854.html
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‘How to bridge Nigeria’s $600m crude palm oil imports’
The National President, Oil Palm Growers Association of Nigeria (OPGAN), Joe Onyiuke, has called on oil palm growers to embark on a replanting programme to repopulate the ageing plantations and wild grooves across the states to upscale crude palm oil production.
said opportunities abound in agriculture, “especially oil palm,” saying, “the missing link is the path way to using technology to add value and the logistics to move it.”
Onyiuke, who lent his support to the Delta State government’s drive to diversify its economy through the just concluded Economic Investment Summit in Asaba, the state capital, said oil palm growers must resolve to embark on replenishing the plantations to increase output.
“We must launch a replanting program to repopulate the ageing plantations and wild grooves across the state. This singular action will lift hundreds of thousands of small holders out of poverty permanently,” he said.
Onyiuke said OPGAN has a national 1.5 million hectare replanting plan to bring Nigeria to number three position in oil palm production globally and close the over $600million crude palm oil importation gap in the Nigeria.
With this program, “we intend to replant 225m seedlings across the 27 oil palm growing states in the country, in conjunction with NACCIMA’s one billion economic Tree Planting program, adding that there is need to set up certified nurseries across Delta State to be able to achieve the replanting target.
Onyiuke said Delta State is located within Nigeria’s traditional oil palm belt, saying this brings investment opportunities in large-scale plantations utilising the large number of small and medium holder oil palm farmers and, more importantly, automated processing mills to feed our massive domestic supply deficit in Nigeria for Crude Palm Oil (CPO) and Palm Kernel Oil (PKO) used in the food, cosmetic, energy, chemical and pharmaceutical industries. NigerianBusiness Coverage
He said proximity to ports and major industrial hubs in the South-South and South-East makes logistics easier for industrial off-takers, adding that with operational seaports in Warri, Kokoand proximity to the commercial hubs of Onitsha and Benin, investors have easy incentives to come in.
https://thenationonlineng.net/how-to-bridge-nigerias-600m-crude-palm-oil-imports/
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Dangote Refinery IPO: What this means for African markets
Dangote refinery is eyeing up a 5 billion dollar raise through its Nigerian initial public offering, alongside reports for a Johannesburg listing afterward. Meanwhile, the CEO of Nigeria’s Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority said Nigeria is working towards ending crude oil exports, noting the country’s expanding refining capacity. Joining CNBC Africa to discuss this further is Femi Oladehin, the Chief Executive of Argentil Capital Partners.
https://www.cnbcafrica.com/media/7786022696904/dangote-refinery-ipo-what-this-means-for-african-markets
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Indonesian rubber growers bet the farm on oil palm
Summary
- Indonesia's rubber plantation area fell 17% over five years
- Rubber output drops to projected 2 million tons this year
- 500,000 hectares of rubber have been converted to palm oil: association
- Tyre makers are reducing Indonesian sourcing as natural rubber declines
JAKARTA, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Sumaryono, a 45-year-old Indonesian smallholder, risked everything three years ago when he pumped his life savings of about $2,200 into replacing his 10-hectare (25-acre) rubber plantation with oil palm trees.
Indonesia, the world's second-largest rubber supplier, accounting for 14% of global output, is seeing a wave of farmers like Sumaryono abandon rubber for palm oil in a shift that could tighten the global supply of rubber, a commodity used from automobiles to health care.
"Harvesting is done twice a month, we sell the fresh fruit bunches, and get cash. It doesn't need constant daily supervision like rubber," Sumaryono told Reuters over the phone from his plantation in the Banyuasin regency of South Sumatra province, Indonesia's top rubber producing region.
Rubber is more difficult to farm than oil palm: trees take five to seven years to generate returns and require tapping for the sticky sap every other day, which is becoming a major challenge as the number of skilled tappers has declined, said Rubber Services Singapore 1877 (RSS1877) director Kevan Mitchell.
Agriculture ministry data shows the land area for rubber plantations in Indonesia declined 17% over the last five years, from 3.78 million hectares in 2021 to an estimated 3.13 million hectares in 2026.
Production has dropped from more than 3 million metric tons in 2021 to a projected 2 million tons this year.
Arif Susanto, head of the rubber farmer association Apkarindo, said up to 500,000 hectares could have already shifted from rubber to oil palm in South Sumatra alone.
"The main trigger is simple: prices," he added.
Rubber prices, though recovering in the past two years, went into a protracted slump after hitting a record high in 2011. While palm oil prices have also been volatile, they surged to a record during the pandemic and are now getting support from biofuel mandates.
PALM VS RUBBER
"Farmers are converting because they see better returns from palm oil," said Kastolani, 63, who shifted to palm after four decades growing rubber.
He converted seven of his 11 hectares in the past two years, citing problems ranging from ageing trees to labour shortages, alongside stronger palm oil prices.
Indonesia is the world's largest producer of palm oil, and successive governments have actively promoted the industry, which now accounts for 8.3% of the country's exports and 3.5% of its GDP.
Widyantoko Sumarlin from the Indonesian Rubber Association (Gapkindo) said the shift had accelerated over the past seven to 10 years, driven largely by a surge in palm fresh fruit bunch prices while rubber prices stagnated.
Biodiesel demand was one of the factors, he added.
The agriculture ministry acknowledged falling rubber prices have been a factor fuelling the switch.
"The government is seeking to boost the rubber sector's competitiveness, while urging farmers to consider the long-term economic and sustainability impacts of converting plantations," said Heru Tri Widarto, secretary general of the Directorate General of Estate Crops.
INDUSTRY IMPACT
The tyre industry uses around 50% of Indonesia's natural rubber.
French tyre maker Michelin owns a rubber plantation in Indonesia, which feeds its local and international factories.
An expert from Michelin, who declined to be named because they were not authorised to speak to the media, said natural rubber production in Indonesia had dropped significantly over the past five years.
"The share of sourcing from Indonesia has declined due to limited availability, although the country remains a strategic and important supplier," the expert said.
Indonesian SIR20 has traded at parity with, and sometimes a premium to, Thai STR20 in recent weeks, a reversal from the past year, when Thai material was consistently the pricier grade, said Farah Miller, CEO of rubber analytics firm Helixtap Technologies. Thailand is the world's top rubber producer.
Therefore, buyers could have less room to substitute Thai material for the Indonesian shortfall.
The Indonesian decline has been offset by increased volumes from other regions such as West Africa.
Ivory Coast has picked up some of that share, with African cargoes seeing more activity as the EU's December 2026 deforestation-regulation deadline approaches, added Miller.
Reporting by Dewi Kurniawati; Additional reporting by Emily Ou Yong in Singapore; Editing by Gibran Peshimam and Kate Mayberry
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/indonesian-rubber-growers-bet-farm-oil-palm-2026-08-07/
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August 06, 2026
Climate Target Body Opens Door to Southeast Asian Producers on Land-Use Rules
SBTi wants direct input from the region's palm oil, rice, and timber sectors as it overhauls its framework for measuring emissions and carbon removals tied to agriculture and forestry.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Seeking Field Evidence from the Region's Agri-Exporters
The Science Based Targets initiative has launched a consultation round specifically targeting Southeast Asian companies, aiming to gather operational evidence that will inform the next iteration of its land-sector emissions framework.
The organisation wants businesses in the region's palm oil, rubber, rice, timber, and seafood industries to submit data on their supply-chain models, commodity footprints, and the practical hurdles they face when tracking land-based greenhouse gas inventories. Southeast Asia accounts for 8.2 per cent of global agri-food exports, making regional participation essential to building a credible global standard, according to SBTi.
Companies can register for virtual stakeholder sessions until 8 September, with written evidence submissions closing on 8 October. SBTi indicated that development of the revised standard will take more than a year and will incorporate pilot programmes and expert working groups alongside the consultation data.
What FLAG Requires Today
The current FLAG framework, developed in partnership with WWF and multinational firms including Cargill, Danone, IKEA, Mars, Nestlé, PepsiCo, and Walmart, mandates that companies isolate land-related emissions and removals into a separate accounting stream instead of bundling them into general Scope 3 categories.
Under the existing guidance, firms must measure and set reduction goals for emissions from deforestation, land conversion, fertiliser application, livestock, farming operations, and timber extraction. They must also account for carbon removals generated by reforestation, agroforestry, improved forest stewardship, and soil-carbon sequestration practices.
More than 260 companies globally have submitted FLAG targets for validation, with 149 of those aligned to net-zero pathways. A survey of 171 companies with science-based targets found that 91 per cent reported positive outcomes, while two-thirds said the commitments strengthened their competitive position. Roughly 71 per cent indicated the targets improved their readiness for regulatory shifts, and 92 per cent cited neutral or favourable long-term financial impacts.
Why the Revision Matters
Land-based activities contribute 22 per cent of global greenhouse gas output, trailing only energy and industry. At the same time, these systems face mounting pressure from ecosystem decline, biodiversity loss, and climate volatility, creating a dual imperative for companies embedded in agricultural and forestry value chains.
SBTi said the revision process will examine how regional regulations, geographic conditions, supply-chain architectures, and commodity profiles shape a company's capacity to meet FLAG requirements. The organisation emphasised that broader participation will produce a more robust evidence base, particularly from regions that have been underrepresented in previous consultations.
A spokesperson for SBTi told Eco-Business that the exercise offers Southeast Asian firms a direct channel to influence the standard's design and ensure it reflects diverse operational contexts.
What Comes Next
Firms are encouraged to continue setting targets under the current FLAG Guidance Version 1.2 while the overhaul proceeds. The consultation findings will feed into public comment periods, pilot testing rounds, and technical working groups before Version 2 is finalised.
The land sector remains a critical lever in the global net-zero transition, and integrating land-based decarbonisation into corporate strategy is becoming a baseline expectation for companies operating in agriculture, forestry, and related supply chains. The updated standard will test whether a more inclusive design process can translate into higher adoption rates and more credible climate commitments across Asia's most land-intensive industries.
https://www.briefasia.com/article/climate-target-body-opens-door-southeast-asian-producers-land-use-rules
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Sustainability-linked loans flowed to palm oil firms facing deforestation allegations in Indonesia claims Global Witness
Banks have been accused of funding palm oil companies linked to deforestation and human rights violations via loans tied to corporate sustainability targets and performance.
Global Witness has this week claimed that banks including HSBC, Crédit Agricole, Rabobank and Bank of China have funnelled billions of dollars in the form of sustainability-linked loans to Indonesian palm oil firms that are facing allegations of deforestation in their supply chains.
Sustainability-linked loans are tethered to sustainability targets from the organisations receiving the funding. The metrics can be set by the lenders, meaning there is no standard for what counts as an ambitious sustainability target.
Global Witness claims that one major palm oil producer in receipt of these loans – Wilmar International – could be linked to primary forest loss in its concessions equivalent to the size of 6000 football pitches. The company has also been accused of taking over land belonging to indigenous communities.
Wilmar notably introduced a ‘zero-deforestation’ policy in 2015.
Global Witness found investors held $46m in Wilmar shares through 35 funds using terms such as “ESG”, “responsible” or “sustainable” in their titles.
Flossie Boyd, Global Witness Senior Campaigner, said: “It is shocking that companies tied to massive forest loss, human rights violations and environmental degradation are seen as ‘sustainable’ investments.
“Voluntary standards on sustainability allow companies to effectively mark their own homework, raising serious questions for responsible investors. The findings show why the EU and UK need to introduce clear mandatory financial rules that cut off investment to firms failing to tackle deforestation in their supply chains.”
Over three years starting from 2022, banks provided a combined $500m in sustainability-linked loans.
Wilmar responded to the findings by stating it “firmly refute[s] any suggestion that deforestation has been carried out by the company as alleged”.
edie has reached out to the banks listed in the research for comment.
A Barclays spokesperson said: “All palm oil clients are required to commit to no deforestation, no peatland development and no exploitation in their operations and supply chain. Clients are assessed against these and other criteria as part of an annual due diligence process.”
Earlier this year, Global Canopy reported that almost 60% of leading financial institutions have no deforestation policies in place.
Its latest Forest 500 report analysed the activity of the 150 financial institutions most responsible for supporting the Forest 500 companies. These are the businesses with the most exposure to global deforestation risk. Financial institutions provided $8.9trn of direct and indirect financial support to these companies in 2024.
Almost two-thirds of the ranked institutions had no deforestation policies for the highest-risk commodities, which include beef, cocoa, coffee, leather, palm oil, pulp and paper, rubber, soy and timber.
Related article: Why deforestation remains a dangerous blind spot on business balance sheets
Campaigners have consistently called for policymakers to include finance providers in forthcoming EU regulations banning deforestation-linked imports. Most recently, campaigners urged for changes off the back of Global Witness’s investigation into financial support provided to Cresud, a large Argentinian firm which sells, owns and manages land with the aim of increasing agri-food commodity production.
The European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) mandates that products derived from beef, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, natural rubber, soy or wood must be “deforestation-free” and legally produced to be placed on the EU market. However, no account for financing was included in the approved version published earlier this year.
https://www.edie.net/sustainability-loans-for-palm-oil-firms-linked-to-deforestation-report-warns/
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Indonesia preparing long term contract for Russian crude oil
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia's Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said the government is preparing a long term contract to import crude oil from Russia.
"The first shipment has already arrived. The second shipment is underway. We will later establish a long term contract," Lahadalia said here on Wednesday.
He stressed the procurement and import of Russian crude oil are being carried out by the government through the Oil and Petroleum Testing Center (Lemigas) and not by state-owned energy firm Pertamina.
Related news: FM Sugiono pushes Indonesia-Rusia nuclear power partnership
Once the government imports crude oil from Russia, Lahadalia added, its distribution to the public becomes a state matter that cannot be influenced by other countries.
"No other country can interfere with the state's affairs. We are a sovereign nation. Our country adheres to a free and active foreign policy," he remarked.
Indonesia does not dictate other countries' policies, he stressed, and therefore other countries should not dictate Indonesia's decisions, including those related to meeting its national energy needs.
"We must safeguard our nation's independence as part of our devotion to our motherland," Lahadalia added.
Related news: Indonesia begins first Russian oil imports under 150-mln-barrel plan
He emphasised Indonesia currently needs crude oil. As an energy minister, Lahadalia said his priority is to maintain adequate domestic fuel reserves.
As long as the import process complies with existing regulations, he said, Indonesia will continue importing oil regardless of its country of origin.
In line with President Prabowo Subianto's instruction through Presidential Regulation Number 26 of 2026 on the Procurement of Crude Oil, Fuel, and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) for National Energy Security, Lahadalia has instructed Lemigas to import crude oil from Russia.
He explained assigning Lemigas to manage energy imports aims to shorten the import supply chain that has existed so far.
Lahadalia said importing energy commodities through Lemigas also enables government to government (G to G) transactions.
Related news: Indonesia promotes palm oil bioenergy in Russia
Climate Target Body Opens Door to Southeast Asian Producers on Land-Use Rules
SBTi wants direct input from the region's palm oil, rice, and timber sectors as it overhauls its framework for measuring emissions and carbon removals tied to agriculture and forestry.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- ·Science Based Targets initiative is collecting operational data from Southeast Asian palm oil, rice, timber, and seafood companies to shape Version 2 of its FLAG Standard, with evidence submissions closing 8 October.
- ·The current framework requires firms to separately account for land-related emissions and removals; over 260 companies have validated FLAG targets, with 91 per cent reporting positive outcomes.
- ·Land-based activities generate 22 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and SBTi aims to reflect regional supply-chain realities in the revised standard due after a 12-month development cycle.
Seeking Field Evidence from the Region's Agri-Exporters
The Science Based Targets initiative has launched a consultation round specifically targeting Southeast Asian companies, aiming to gather operational evidence that will inform the next iteration of its land-sector emissions framework.
The organisation wants businesses in the region's palm oil, rubber, rice, timber, and seafood industries to submit data on their supply-chain models, commodity footprints, and the practical hurdles they face when tracking land-based greenhouse gas inventories. Southeast Asia accounts for 8.2 per cent of global agri-food exports, making regional participation essential to building a credible global standard, according to SBTi.
Companies can register for virtual stakeholder sessions until 8 September, with written evidence submissions closing on 8 October. SBTi indicated that development of the revised standard will take more than a year and will incorporate pilot programmes and expert working groups alongside the consultation data.
What FLAG Requires Today
The current FLAG framework, developed in partnership with WWF and multinational firms including Cargill, Danone, IKEA, Mars, Nestlé, PepsiCo, and Walmart, mandates that companies isolate land-related emissions and removals into a separate accounting stream instead of bundling them into general Scope 3 categories.
Under the existing guidance, firms must measure and set reduction goals for emissions from deforestation, land conversion, fertiliser application, livestock, farming operations, and timber extraction. They must also account for carbon removals generated by reforestation, agroforestry, improved forest stewardship, and soil-carbon sequestration practices.
More than 260 companies globally have submitted FLAG targets for validation, with 149 of those aligned to net-zero pathways. A survey of 171 companies with science-based targets found that 91 per cent reported positive outcomes, while two-thirds said the commitments strengthened their competitive position. Roughly 71 per cent indicated the targets improved their readiness for regulatory shifts, and 92 per cent cited neutral or favourable long-term financial impacts.
Why the Revision Matters
Land-based activities contribute 22 per cent of global greenhouse gas output, trailing only energy and industry. At the same time, these systems face mounting pressure from ecosystem decline, biodiversity loss, and climate volatility, creating a dual imperative for companies embedded in agricultural and forestry value chains.
SBTi said the revision process will examine how regional regulations, geographic conditions, supply-chain architectures, and commodity profiles shape a company's capacity to meet FLAG requirements. The organisation emphasised that broader participation will produce a more robust evidence base, particularly from regions that have been underrepresented in previous consultations.
A spokesperson for SBTi told Eco-Business that the exercise offers Southeast Asian firms a direct channel to influence the standard's design and ensure it reflects diverse operational contexts.
What Comes Next
Firms are encouraged to continue setting targets under the current FLAG Guidance Version 1.2 while the overhaul proceeds. The consultation findings will feed into public comment periods, pilot testing rounds, and technical working groups before Version 2 is finalised.
The land sector remains a critical lever in the global net-zero transition, and integrating land-based decarbonisation into corporate strategy is becoming a baseline expectation for companies operating in agriculture, forestry, and related supply chains. The updated standard will test whether a more inclusive design process can translate into higher adoption rates and more credible climate commitments across Asia's most land-intensive industries.
https://www.briefasia.com/article/climate-target-body-opens-door-southeast-asian-producers-land-use-rules
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Sustainability-linked loans flowed to palm oil firms facing deforestation allegations in Indonesia claims Global Witness
Banks have been accused of funding palm oil companies linked to deforestation and human rights violations via loans tied to corporate sustainability targets and performance.
Global Witness has this week claimed that banks including HSBC, Crédit Agricole, Rabobank and Bank of China have funnelled billions of dollars in the form of sustainability-linked loans to Indonesian palm oil firms that are facing allegations of deforestation in their supply chains.
Sustainability-linked loans are tethered to sustainability targets from the organisations receiving the funding. The metrics can be set by the lenders, meaning there is no standard for what counts as an ambitious sustainability target.
Global Witness claims that one major palm oil producer in receipt of these loans – Wilmar International – could be linked to primary forest loss in its concessions equivalent to the size of 6000 football pitches. The company has also been accused of taking over land belonging to indigenous communities.
Wilmar notably introduced a ‘zero-deforestation’ policy in 2015.
Global Witness found investors held $46m in Wilmar shares through 35 funds using terms such as “ESG”, “responsible” or “sustainable” in their titles.
Flossie Boyd, Global Witness Senior Campaigner, said: “It is shocking that companies tied to massive forest loss, human rights violations and environmental degradation are seen as ‘sustainable’ investments.
“Voluntary standards on sustainability allow companies to effectively mark their own homework, raising serious questions for responsible investors. The findings show why the EU and UK need to introduce clear mandatory financial rules that cut off investment to firms failing to tackle deforestation in their supply chains.”
Over three years starting from 2022, banks provided a combined $500m in sustainability-linked loans.
Wilmar responded to the findings by stating it “firmly refute[s] any suggestion that deforestation has been carried out by the company as alleged”.
edie has reached out to the banks listed in the research for comment.
A Barclays spokesperson said: “All palm oil clients are required to commit to no deforestation, no peatland development and no exploitation in their operations and supply chain. Clients are assessed against these and other criteria as part of an annual due diligence process.”
Earlier this year, Global Canopy reported that almost 60% of leading financial institutions have no deforestation policies in place.
Its latest Forest 500 report analysed the activity of the 150 financial institutions most responsible for supporting the Forest 500 companies. These are the businesses with the most exposure to global deforestation risk. Financial institutions provided $8.9trn of direct and indirect financial support to these companies in 2024.
Almost two-thirds of the ranked institutions had no deforestation policies for the highest-risk commodities, which include beef, cocoa, coffee, leather, palm oil, pulp and paper, rubber, soy and timber.
Related article: Why deforestation remains a dangerous blind spot on business balance sheets
Campaigners have consistently called for policymakers to include finance providers in forthcoming EU regulations banning deforestation-linked imports. Most recently, campaigners urged for changes off the back of Global Witness’s investigation into financial support provided to Cresud, a large Argentinian firm which sells, owns and manages land with the aim of increasing agri-food commodity production.
The European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) mandates that products derived from beef, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, natural rubber, soy or wood must be “deforestation-free” and legally produced to be placed on the EU market. However, no account for financing was included in the approved version published earlier this year.
https://www.edie.net/sustainability-loans-for-palm-oil-firms-linked-to-deforestation-report-warns/
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Indonesia preparing long term contract for Russian crude oil
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia's Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said the government is preparing a long term contract to import crude oil from Russia.
"The first shipment has already arrived. The second shipment is underway. We will later establish a long term contract," Lahadalia said here on Wednesday.
He stressed the procurement and import of Russian crude oil are being carried out by the government through the Oil and Petroleum Testing Center (Lemigas) and not by state-owned energy firm Pertamina.
Related news: FM Sugiono pushes Indonesia-Rusia nuclear power partnership
Once the government imports crude oil from Russia, Lahadalia added, its distribution to the public becomes a state matter that cannot be influenced by other countries.
"No other country can interfere with the state's affairs. We are a sovereign nation. Our country adheres to a free and active foreign policy," he remarked.
Indonesia does not dictate other countries' policies, he stressed, and therefore other countries should not dictate Indonesia's decisions, including those related to meeting its national energy needs.
"We must safeguard our nation's independence as part of our devotion to our motherland," Lahadalia added.
Related news: Indonesia begins first Russian oil imports under 150-mln-barrel plan
He emphasised Indonesia currently needs crude oil. As an energy minister, Lahadalia said his priority is to maintain adequate domestic fuel reserves.
As long as the import process complies with existing regulations, he said, Indonesia will continue importing oil regardless of its country of origin.
In line with President Prabowo Subianto's instruction through Presidential Regulation Number 26 of 2026 on the Procurement of Crude Oil, Fuel, and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) for National Energy Security, Lahadalia has instructed Lemigas to import crude oil from Russia.
He explained assigning Lemigas to manage energy imports aims to shorten the import supply chain that has existed so far.
Lahadalia said importing energy commodities through Lemigas also enables government to government (G to G) transactions.
Related news: Indonesia promotes palm oil bioenergy in Russia
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August 05, 2026
CPO downstreaming key to boosting Indonesia's exports: minister
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman hailed palm oil downstreaming as a “strategic weapon” to boost Indonesia’s exports, following a 7.32 percent growth in crude palm oil (CPO) and derivative export values in the first half of 2026.
Speaking in Jakarta on Tuesday (August 4), Amran underscored Indonesia's market dominance alongside neighboring Malaysia, pointing out that the two nations jointly control approximately 80 percent of global CPO production.
"We are number one in the world. CPO downstreaming is a strategic weapon for Indonesia," he noted.
The minister emphasized that strengthening agricultural exports must continue through increased added value and industrial processing, to deliver greater benefits to the national economy and farmer welfare.
According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS), the agricultural sector's export performance showed a positive trend from January to June 2026, largely driven by rising global CPO prices.
BPS Deputy for Distribution and Services Statistics Ateng Hartono confirmed that the export value of CPO and its derivative products expanded by 7.32 percent year-on-year during the first six months of 2026.
"From January to June 2026, the export value of CPO and its derivatives grew 7.32 percent compared to the same period last year," Ateng stated in Jakarta on Monday (August 3).
In June 2026, the export value of agricultural, forestry and fishery commodities reached US$485.8 million. Cumulatively, from January to June 2026, the sector’s export value reached US$2.59 billion, marking a 1.84 percent increase compared to the same period in 2025.
This commodity growth contributed to Indonesia's total exports, which reached US$140.81 billion in the first six months of the year, a 4.13 percent increase year-on-year. Non-oil and gas exports rose 4.90 percent to US$134.58 billion.
The animal and vegetable fats and oils category (HS15), which includes CPO and its derivatives, served as a primary growth driver. In June 2026, total exports reached US$25.46 billion, up 8.84 percent year-on-year, while the HS15 group recorded a 10.45 percent increase.
BPS data revealed that CPO, iron and steel, and coal collectively accounted for 28.30 percent of Indonesia's total non-oil and gas exports during the first half of 2026.
Among these three mainstay commodities, CPO achieved the highest growth rate at 7.32 percent, whereas coal grew by 0.63 percent and iron and steel exports declined by 0.16 percent.
https://en.antaranews.com/news/425567/cpo-downstreaming-key-to-boosting-indonesias-exports-minister
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Are Indonesia’s Prabowo and ultra rich ‘9 Dragons’ on a collision course?
Analysts say the pressure on Indonesia’s older business elite forms part of a broader two-pronged strategy of state capitalism
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s push to reorganise Southeast Asia’s largest economy around a stronger, more interventionist state has put him increasingly at odds, analysts say, with the country’s so-called Nine Dragons.
Known locally as Sembilan Naga, the label is a loose shorthand for some of Indonesia’s richest tycoon families – many of them Chinese Indonesian – with interests spanning banking, tobacco, property, palm oil, mining and consumer goods.
It has never referred to a formally confirmed group but is widely used in public discussion of powerful conglomerates associated with business empires such as Djarum, Salim Group, Lippo Group, Golden Agri-Resources, Barito Pacific and Agung Sedayu.
Prabowo has not explicitly named the Nine Dragons as targets, but analysts say his warnings about wealth leaking overseas, his drive to centralise key exports and his effort to marshal tycoon money for state projects all suggest a broader bid to bring Indonesia’s old business elite under firmer state control.
“Prabowo may not mention names, but there’s no mistake he’s taking potshots at the dragons,” said Made Supriatma, a visiting fellow in the Indonesia Studies Programme at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, whose research focuses on Indonesian state bureaucracy.
Yet the limits of Prabowo’s leverage run both ways: the tycoons remain deeply embedded in the Indonesian economy, while the president still needs private capital to help fund his flagship programmes.
“They [the tycoons] find themselves between a rock and a hard place: to submit to the president or to take their business somewhere else,” Made said.
But Vedi Hadiz, a political sociologist at the University of Melbourne and author of Reorganising Power in Indonesia: The Politics of Oligarchy in an Age of Markets, told This Week in Asia the second option was unlikely.
“At the core of it, most of their revenues come from their operations within the Indonesian economy.”
Prabowo’s push has also shed light on the rise of newer loyalists such as coal magnate Haji Isam, whose ascent analysts see as part of Prabowo’s effort to cultivate business figures more eager to align themselves with his state-led agenda.
“Prabowo’s end goal is to establish a more command-like and centralised political economy, in which he is at the apex of power,” Vedi said.
A more centralised political economy, analysts say, gives the administration greater leverage over business groups such as the Nine Dragons. However, they differ over whether Prabowo aims to break their influence or simply remake the terms of their relationship with the state.
https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3362973/are-indonesias-prabowo-and-ultra-rich-9-dragons-collision-course
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Malaysia’s Taiyo Biomass to launch EFB plant in September
Malaysian biomass producer Taiyo Biomass (TBSB) is set to launch an empty fruit bunch (EFB) pellet plant on 7 September, the company told Argus today.
The plant is in Pasir Gudang, Johor, and has an initial production capacity of 15,000 t/yr.
Key typical specifications include a high calorific value of over NAR 4,000 kcal/kg, low moisture content below 10pc, high mechanical durability for safe transport, and ash content that is carefully controlled and treated to mitigate issues like slagging and fouling in boilers, said TBSB.
EFB is an agricultural residue of crude palm oil (CPO) production. Their investment in the EFB plant project aims to contribute directly to the circular economy, helping to reduce methane emissions from decomposing EFB and providing a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels, said the company.
The producer is targeting biomass markets with strong policy support for renewable energy and stringent carbon reduction targets. It also aims to sell its products to both domestic and industrial end-users, including power plants looking to co-fire with or fully transition to biomass, as well as large-scale industrial boilers in sectors like cement, textiles, and food processing.
The firm is looking at major energy-importing markets in northeast Asia, particularly Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, where the demand for reliable, sustainable biomass fuel under schemes like Japan's feed-in-tariff (FiT) and South Korea's renewable energy certificates (RECs) are established and expanding, said TBSB.
The EFB pellet market is still at a nascent stage, with several biomass utilities in Japan considering its use in its boilers, according to market participants who spoke to Argus. EFB pellets are accepted by Japan's FiT scheme for biomass, which allows power producers to sell power generated from biomass at a higher price. But Japanese utilities are concerned about the existence of unwanted chemicals in the product.
The main challenges are technical, commercial and logistical, said TBSB. The inherently high ash and potassium content of EFB, if not properly processed, can cause operational issues like clinker formation in furnaces, it added.
The company must compete on energy content and delivered costs with other established fuels including wood pellets and coal and overcome complex sustainability certification requirements, it said.
Another logistical challenge for EFB production is the low bulk density of raw EFB feedstock and the need to collect and aggregate it from several CPO mills, which require heavy investment in a robust supply chain prior to launching the plant, according to TBSB.
The biomass producer regularly exports palm kernel shells from Malaysia, with existing factories in Pasir Gudang, Port Klang and in east Malaysian regions including Bintulu and Sandakan.
The firm plans to ramp up production through additional facilities at its existing plant as soon as possible, said TBSB.
https://www.argusmedia.com/en/news-and-insights/latest-market-news/2861177-malaysia-s-taiyo-biomass-to-launch-efb-plant-in-sep
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India's edible oil imports hit 10-month peak in July on higher palm buying, dealers say
MUMBAI, Aug 4 (Reuters) - India's edible oil imports climbed to their highest level in 10 months in July as refiners increased purchases of palm oil and soyoil to replenish inventories ahead of the festival season amid tightening domestic supplies, five dealers said.
Higher palm oil and soyoil buying by the world's biggest importer of vegetable oils could help top producers Indonesia, Malaysia and Argentina in bringing down stocks and support benchmark palm oil and soyoil futures .
Palm oil imports jumped 50% from a month ago to 733,000 metric tons in July, the highest in five months, dealers' average estimates showed.
Soyoil imports rose 32% month-on-month in July to 501,000 tons, the highest in seven months, while sunflower oil shipments edged higher by 4% to 253,000 tons.
India's edible oil imports surged 34% from June to a 10-month high of 1.49 million tons in July, driven by higher imports of all three major edible oils, estimates showed.
The figures exclude duty-free shipments arriving via land from neighbouring Nepal, the dealers said.
The Solvent Extractors' Association of India is due to publish July import data by mid-August.
Palm oil imports jumped 50% from a month ago to 733,000 metric tons in July, the highest in five months, dealers' average estimates showed.
Soyoil imports rose 32% month-on-month in July to 501,000 tons, the highest in seven months, while sunflower oil shipments edged higher by 4% to 253,000 tons.
India's edible oil imports surged 34% from June to a 10-month high of 1.49 million tons in July, driven by higher imports of all three major edible oils, estimates showed.
The figures exclude duty-free shipments arriving via land from neighbouring Nepal, the dealers said.
The Solvent Extractors' Association of India is due to publish July import data by mid-August.
https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indias-edible-oil-imports-hit-10-month-peak-july-higher-palm-buying-dealers-say-2026-08-04/
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India nears target for oil palm plantation expansion
India has nearly reached the target set under its national oil palm development programme. As of March 2026, the country’s oil palm plantation area had expanded to around 640 thsd ha, representing almost 98% of the 650 thsd ha target established under the National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP), launched in 2021.
The expansion is expected to support higher domestic palm oil production and reduce India’s dependence on imports. By the 2030/31 season, the country’s crude palm oil output is projected to reach 1.5 mln tons, nearly three times the current production level.
The states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana remain the core production regions, accounting for approximately 98% of India’s oil palm output. Analysts say the success of these states demonstrates the crop’s strong commercial potential when supported by irrigation and modern farming practices.
According to industry estimates, farmers switching from lower-value crops to oil palm have already seen higher incomes. Most new plantations are being established on degraded land or areas previously planted with less profitable crops, helping to minimise pressure on forest ecosystems.
India views the continued expansion of its oil palm sector not only as a way to strengthen food security but also as part of its broader strategy to develop bioenergy and reduce reliance on imported vegetable oils. Higher domestic production could improve the country’s long-term supply security and lower future import requirements.
https://ukragroconsult.com/en/news/india-nears-target-for-oil-palm-plantation-expansion/
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CPO downstreaming key to boosting Indonesia's exports: minister
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman hailed palm oil downstreaming as a “strategic weapon” to boost Indonesia’s exports, following a 7.32 percent growth in crude palm oil (CPO) and derivative export values in the first half of 2026.
Speaking in Jakarta on Tuesday (August 4), Amran underscored Indonesia's market dominance alongside neighboring Malaysia, pointing out that the two nations jointly control approximately 80 percent of global CPO production.
"We are number one in the world. CPO downstreaming is a strategic weapon for Indonesia," he noted.
The minister emphasized that strengthening agricultural exports must continue through increased added value and industrial processing, to deliver greater benefits to the national economy and farmer welfare.
According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS), the agricultural sector's export performance showed a positive trend from January to June 2026, largely driven by rising global CPO prices.
BPS Deputy for Distribution and Services Statistics Ateng Hartono confirmed that the export value of CPO and its derivative products expanded by 7.32 percent year-on-year during the first six months of 2026.
"From January to June 2026, the export value of CPO and its derivatives grew 7.32 percent compared to the same period last year," Ateng stated in Jakarta on Monday (August 3).
In June 2026, the export value of agricultural, forestry and fishery commodities reached US$485.8 million. Cumulatively, from January to June 2026, the sector’s export value reached US$2.59 billion, marking a 1.84 percent increase compared to the same period in 2025.
This commodity growth contributed to Indonesia's total exports, which reached US$140.81 billion in the first six months of the year, a 4.13 percent increase year-on-year. Non-oil and gas exports rose 4.90 percent to US$134.58 billion.
The animal and vegetable fats and oils category (HS15), which includes CPO and its derivatives, served as a primary growth driver. In June 2026, total exports reached US$25.46 billion, up 8.84 percent year-on-year, while the HS15 group recorded a 10.45 percent increase.
BPS data revealed that CPO, iron and steel, and coal collectively accounted for 28.30 percent of Indonesia's total non-oil and gas exports during the first half of 2026.
Among these three mainstay commodities, CPO achieved the highest growth rate at 7.32 percent, whereas coal grew by 0.63 percent and iron and steel exports declined by 0.16 percent.
https://en.antaranews.com/news/425567/cpo-downstreaming-key-to-boosting-indonesias-exports-minister
---------
Are Indonesia’s Prabowo and ultra rich ‘9 Dragons’ on a collision course?
Analysts say the pressure on Indonesia’s older business elite forms part of a broader two-pronged strategy of state capitalism
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s push to reorganise Southeast Asia’s largest economy around a stronger, more interventionist state has put him increasingly at odds, analysts say, with the country’s so-called Nine Dragons.
Known locally as Sembilan Naga, the label is a loose shorthand for some of Indonesia’s richest tycoon families – many of them Chinese Indonesian – with interests spanning banking, tobacco, property, palm oil, mining and consumer goods.
It has never referred to a formally confirmed group but is widely used in public discussion of powerful conglomerates associated with business empires such as Djarum, Salim Group, Lippo Group, Golden Agri-Resources, Barito Pacific and Agung Sedayu.
Prabowo has not explicitly named the Nine Dragons as targets, but analysts say his warnings about wealth leaking overseas, his drive to centralise key exports and his effort to marshal tycoon money for state projects all suggest a broader bid to bring Indonesia’s old business elite under firmer state control.
“Prabowo may not mention names, but there’s no mistake he’s taking potshots at the dragons,” said Made Supriatma, a visiting fellow in the Indonesia Studies Programme at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, whose research focuses on Indonesian state bureaucracy.
Yet the limits of Prabowo’s leverage run both ways: the tycoons remain deeply embedded in the Indonesian economy, while the president still needs private capital to help fund his flagship programmes.
“They [the tycoons] find themselves between a rock and a hard place: to submit to the president or to take their business somewhere else,” Made said.
But Vedi Hadiz, a political sociologist at the University of Melbourne and author of Reorganising Power in Indonesia: The Politics of Oligarchy in an Age of Markets, told This Week in Asia the second option was unlikely.
“At the core of it, most of their revenues come from their operations within the Indonesian economy.”
Prabowo’s push has also shed light on the rise of newer loyalists such as coal magnate Haji Isam, whose ascent analysts see as part of Prabowo’s effort to cultivate business figures more eager to align themselves with his state-led agenda.
“Prabowo’s end goal is to establish a more command-like and centralised political economy, in which he is at the apex of power,” Vedi said.
A more centralised political economy, analysts say, gives the administration greater leverage over business groups such as the Nine Dragons. However, they differ over whether Prabowo aims to break their influence or simply remake the terms of their relationship with the state.
https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3362973/are-indonesias-prabowo-and-ultra-rich-9-dragons-collision-course
---------
Malaysia’s Taiyo Biomass to launch EFB plant in September
Malaysian biomass producer Taiyo Biomass (TBSB) is set to launch an empty fruit bunch (EFB) pellet plant on 7 September, the company told Argus today.
The plant is in Pasir Gudang, Johor, and has an initial production capacity of 15,000 t/yr.
Key typical specifications include a high calorific value of over NAR 4,000 kcal/kg, low moisture content below 10pc, high mechanical durability for safe transport, and ash content that is carefully controlled and treated to mitigate issues like slagging and fouling in boilers, said TBSB.
EFB is an agricultural residue of crude palm oil (CPO) production. Their investment in the EFB plant project aims to contribute directly to the circular economy, helping to reduce methane emissions from decomposing EFB and providing a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels, said the company.
The producer is targeting biomass markets with strong policy support for renewable energy and stringent carbon reduction targets. It also aims to sell its products to both domestic and industrial end-users, including power plants looking to co-fire with or fully transition to biomass, as well as large-scale industrial boilers in sectors like cement, textiles, and food processing.
The firm is looking at major energy-importing markets in northeast Asia, particularly Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, where the demand for reliable, sustainable biomass fuel under schemes like Japan's feed-in-tariff (FiT) and South Korea's renewable energy certificates (RECs) are established and expanding, said TBSB.
The EFB pellet market is still at a nascent stage, with several biomass utilities in Japan considering its use in its boilers, according to market participants who spoke to Argus. EFB pellets are accepted by Japan's FiT scheme for biomass, which allows power producers to sell power generated from biomass at a higher price. But Japanese utilities are concerned about the existence of unwanted chemicals in the product.
The main challenges are technical, commercial and logistical, said TBSB. The inherently high ash and potassium content of EFB, if not properly processed, can cause operational issues like clinker formation in furnaces, it added.
The company must compete on energy content and delivered costs with other established fuels including wood pellets and coal and overcome complex sustainability certification requirements, it said.
Another logistical challenge for EFB production is the low bulk density of raw EFB feedstock and the need to collect and aggregate it from several CPO mills, which require heavy investment in a robust supply chain prior to launching the plant, according to TBSB.
The biomass producer regularly exports palm kernel shells from Malaysia, with existing factories in Pasir Gudang, Port Klang and in east Malaysian regions including Bintulu and Sandakan.
The firm plans to ramp up production through additional facilities at its existing plant as soon as possible, said TBSB.
https://www.argusmedia.com/en/news-and-insights/latest-market-news/2861177-malaysia-s-taiyo-biomass-to-launch-efb-plant-in-sep
--------
India's edible oil imports hit 10-month peak in July on higher palm buying, dealers say
MUMBAI, Aug 4 (Reuters) - India's edible oil imports climbed to their highest level in 10 months in July as refiners increased purchases of palm oil and soyoil to replenish inventories ahead of the festival season amid tightening domestic supplies, five dealers said.
Higher palm oil and soyoil buying by the world's biggest importer of vegetable oils could help top producers Indonesia, Malaysia and Argentina in bringing down stocks and support benchmark palm oil and soyoil futures .
Palm oil imports jumped 50% from a month ago to 733,000 metric tons in July, the highest in five months, dealers' average estimates showed.
Soyoil imports rose 32% month-on-month in July to 501,000 tons, the highest in seven months, while sunflower oil shipments edged higher by 4% to 253,000 tons.
India's edible oil imports surged 34% from June to a 10-month high of 1.49 million tons in July, driven by higher imports of all three major edible oils, estimates showed.
The figures exclude duty-free shipments arriving via land from neighbouring Nepal, the dealers said.
The Solvent Extractors' Association of India is due to publish July import data by mid-August.
Palm oil imports jumped 50% from a month ago to 733,000 metric tons in July, the highest in five months, dealers' average estimates showed.
Soyoil imports rose 32% month-on-month in July to 501,000 tons, the highest in seven months, while sunflower oil shipments edged higher by 4% to 253,000 tons.
India's edible oil imports surged 34% from June to a 10-month high of 1.49 million tons in July, driven by higher imports of all three major edible oils, estimates showed.
The figures exclude duty-free shipments arriving via land from neighbouring Nepal, the dealers said.
The Solvent Extractors' Association of India is due to publish July import data by mid-August.
https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indias-edible-oil-imports-hit-10-month-peak-july-higher-palm-buying-dealers-say-2026-08-04/
--------
India nears target for oil palm plantation expansion
India has nearly reached the target set under its national oil palm development programme. As of March 2026, the country’s oil palm plantation area had expanded to around 640 thsd ha, representing almost 98% of the 650 thsd ha target established under the National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP), launched in 2021.
The expansion is expected to support higher domestic palm oil production and reduce India’s dependence on imports. By the 2030/31 season, the country’s crude palm oil output is projected to reach 1.5 mln tons, nearly three times the current production level.
The states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana remain the core production regions, accounting for approximately 98% of India’s oil palm output. Analysts say the success of these states demonstrates the crop’s strong commercial potential when supported by irrigation and modern farming practices.
According to industry estimates, farmers switching from lower-value crops to oil palm have already seen higher incomes. Most new plantations are being established on degraded land or areas previously planted with less profitable crops, helping to minimise pressure on forest ecosystems.
India views the continued expansion of its oil palm sector not only as a way to strengthen food security but also as part of its broader strategy to develop bioenergy and reduce reliance on imported vegetable oils. Higher domestic production could improve the country’s long-term supply security and lower future import requirements.
https://ukragroconsult.com/en/news/india-nears-target-for-oil-palm-plantation-expansion/
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August 03, 2026
Indonesia seeks US tariff exemption for palm oil exports
In Indonesia, Antara reported that Indonesia is stepping up diplomatic efforts to persuade Washington to grant tariff exemptions for its palm oil exports as the United States prepares to finalize broader trade measures following investigations into labor practices and industrial capacity.
Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto confirmed that the government has formally requested an exemption from additional US import tariffs.
“We are requesting that palm oil be exempted,” Airlangga said, adding that Jakarta is awaiting a phased review by US trade authorities.
The push comes after the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) imposed a 10% tariff on selected Indonesian goods following a Section 301 investigation into forced labor in global supply chains, according to the report.
According to Airlangga, Indonesia is among 17 countries and territories—including India, Malaysia, Mexico, and the United Kingdom—that are subject to the 10 percent tariff rate.
https://biofuelsdigest.com/indonesia-seeks-us-tariff-exemption-for-palm-oil-exports/
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Smallholders manage 41% of palm oil in Indonesia, BPDP says
In Indonesia, Antara reported that Indonesia’s smallholder farmers manage 41% of the country’s oil palm plantations, underscoring their central role in the industry and challenging the perception that palm oil production is dominated by large corporations, the Plantation Fund Management Agency (BPDP) said.
BPDP Director of Finance, General Affairs, Compliance and Risk Management Zaid Burhan Ibrahim said smallholders are vital to Indonesia’s palm oil supply chain.
“People often view palm oil only from the perspective of large companies, yet data show that 41% of the national palm oil industry is managed by communities,” Zaid said.
Smallholder plantations are spread across major producing regions, including Aceh, North Sumatra, Riau, South Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi, generating more than 16 million tons of palm oil annually while continuing to improve productivity.
The industry employs about 16.5 million people in plantations, logistics, transportation, trade, processing industries and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, making it one of Indonesia’s largest sources of jobs.
https://biofuelsdigest.com/smallholders-manage-41-of-palm-oil-in-indonesia-bpdp-says/
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Corporate oil palm plantation makes headway in India, import reliance to reduce
Driven by the Rs 11,040-crore NMEO-OP mission and private sector expansion, India is rapidly scaling up domestic palm oil cultivation to offset rising global import costs and reduce dependence on cooking oil imports.
While rising landed prices of edible oils, especially palm oil, are inflating India’s import bill and forcing local processing units to regulate import volumes, there is good news on the domestic front. Local production palm oil rose significantly in the last couple of years, with a host of private companies, including Godrej Agrovet, Patanjali Food and 3F Oil Palm venturing into large-scale oil palm cultivation.
Area under palm is expanded through a tripartite model between the government, farmers and these companies.
Acreage Expands Across States
Under the Rs 11,040 crore National Mission on Edible Oils –Oil Palm, close to 0.3 million hectare (Mha) has been brought under oil palm plantation in the last five years against the target of 0.65 mha. This enhancement of cultivated area is across 15 states including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, Odisha, Chhattigarh, Gujarat, Assam and Tripura.
As a result, annual crude palm oil production from domestic sources is currently around 0.5 million tonne (MT). According to sources, once most of the new plantations start bearing fresh fruits bunches (FFBs) for extraction, the production will grow substantially, reducing import dependence to a great extent. It takes three to four years for an oil palm tree to bear fruit.
“From a yearly coverage of 21,292 hectare in FY22, over 84,000 hectare has been covered under oil palm cultivation in FY26,” an official told FE. The oil palm acreage is currently around 0.67 Mha. The official said that most private plantations reaching will full maturity in eight years and beag FFBs for next twenty-five yearsl.
High Import Vulnerability Drives
Trade sources said a rise in domestic production of palm oil would keep the rise in imports under check and cater to a steady rise in consumption. India imports around 57%-58% of its annual edible oil consumption of 25 MT to 26 MT. Palm oil imports account for close to half of the total cooking oil imports largely from Indonesia and Malaysia. Recently, the supplies of imported oil have taken a hit and prices surged, as producer countries have raised biofuel targets.
In the 2024-25 oil year (November-October) cooking oils imports were valued at $ 18.3 billion and are likely to exceed $ 19 billion because of elevated global prices of palm oils currently.
https://www.financialexpress.com/policy/economy/corporate-oil-palm-plantation-makes-headway-import-reliance-to-reduce/4308836/
---------
What has driven deforestation in the 21st century?
Most recent deforestation has been in the tropics; what are forests being cut down for?
Over the last two decades, the world has cut down forests at a rate of roughly one Costa Rica per year.1
The largest driver of deforestation has been the expansion of agriculture. This has been true for millennia, and it remains the case today.
But which products, in particular, have been responsible?
This data focuses on commodity-driven deforestation for agriculture and forestry, which accounts for more than 90% of tropical deforestation.A recent study, published in Nature Food by Chandrakant Singh and Martin Persson, answered this question.2
In the chart below, you can see how much deforestation has been caused by different agricultural commodities. This is shown as the annual average between 2001 and 2023.
Beef was, by far, the largest driver, accounting for 41% of the total. Cattle need a lot of land for grazing, which means that the growing global demand for beef has led to the expansion of pasture. Beef alone has led to the destruction of more than two UK-sized areas of forest this century.
The second-largest driver was oilseeds. This category is dominated by deforestation for soy and palm oil; a lot of forest was lost to these plantations, especially in the first decade (as we’ll see later, these rates have fallen over the past ten years).
The other large drivers — accounting for 12% each — were forest plantations and cereal production.
Understanding what has driven deforestation is important, but so is understanding where the forests were lost.
Let’s then take the chart above, but break each bar into the respective regions where it happened. Looking at the chart below, we see that these losses are extremely geographically concentrated for many products.
https://ourworldindata.org/what-has-driven-deforestation-in-the-21st-century
Indonesia seeks US tariff exemption for palm oil exports
In Indonesia, Antara reported that Indonesia is stepping up diplomatic efforts to persuade Washington to grant tariff exemptions for its palm oil exports as the United States prepares to finalize broader trade measures following investigations into labor practices and industrial capacity.
Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto confirmed that the government has formally requested an exemption from additional US import tariffs.
“We are requesting that palm oil be exempted,” Airlangga said, adding that Jakarta is awaiting a phased review by US trade authorities.
The push comes after the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) imposed a 10% tariff on selected Indonesian goods following a Section 301 investigation into forced labor in global supply chains, according to the report.
According to Airlangga, Indonesia is among 17 countries and territories—including India, Malaysia, Mexico, and the United Kingdom—that are subject to the 10 percent tariff rate.
https://biofuelsdigest.com/indonesia-seeks-us-tariff-exemption-for-palm-oil-exports/
--------
Smallholders manage 41% of palm oil in Indonesia, BPDP says
In Indonesia, Antara reported that Indonesia’s smallholder farmers manage 41% of the country’s oil palm plantations, underscoring their central role in the industry and challenging the perception that palm oil production is dominated by large corporations, the Plantation Fund Management Agency (BPDP) said.
BPDP Director of Finance, General Affairs, Compliance and Risk Management Zaid Burhan Ibrahim said smallholders are vital to Indonesia’s palm oil supply chain.
“People often view palm oil only from the perspective of large companies, yet data show that 41% of the national palm oil industry is managed by communities,” Zaid said.
Smallholder plantations are spread across major producing regions, including Aceh, North Sumatra, Riau, South Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi, generating more than 16 million tons of palm oil annually while continuing to improve productivity.
The industry employs about 16.5 million people in plantations, logistics, transportation, trade, processing industries and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, making it one of Indonesia’s largest sources of jobs.
https://biofuelsdigest.com/smallholders-manage-41-of-palm-oil-in-indonesia-bpdp-says/
--------
Corporate oil palm plantation makes headway in India, import reliance to reduce
Driven by the Rs 11,040-crore NMEO-OP mission and private sector expansion, India is rapidly scaling up domestic palm oil cultivation to offset rising global import costs and reduce dependence on cooking oil imports.
While rising landed prices of edible oils, especially palm oil, are inflating India’s import bill and forcing local processing units to regulate import volumes, there is good news on the domestic front. Local production palm oil rose significantly in the last couple of years, with a host of private companies, including Godrej Agrovet, Patanjali Food and 3F Oil Palm venturing into large-scale oil palm cultivation.
Area under palm is expanded through a tripartite model between the government, farmers and these companies.
Acreage Expands Across States
Under the Rs 11,040 crore National Mission on Edible Oils –Oil Palm, close to 0.3 million hectare (Mha) has been brought under oil palm plantation in the last five years against the target of 0.65 mha. This enhancement of cultivated area is across 15 states including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, Odisha, Chhattigarh, Gujarat, Assam and Tripura.
As a result, annual crude palm oil production from domestic sources is currently around 0.5 million tonne (MT). According to sources, once most of the new plantations start bearing fresh fruits bunches (FFBs) for extraction, the production will grow substantially, reducing import dependence to a great extent. It takes three to four years for an oil palm tree to bear fruit.
“From a yearly coverage of 21,292 hectare in FY22, over 84,000 hectare has been covered under oil palm cultivation in FY26,” an official told FE. The oil palm acreage is currently around 0.67 Mha. The official said that most private plantations reaching will full maturity in eight years and beag FFBs for next twenty-five yearsl.
High Import Vulnerability Drives
Trade sources said a rise in domestic production of palm oil would keep the rise in imports under check and cater to a steady rise in consumption. India imports around 57%-58% of its annual edible oil consumption of 25 MT to 26 MT. Palm oil imports account for close to half of the total cooking oil imports largely from Indonesia and Malaysia. Recently, the supplies of imported oil have taken a hit and prices surged, as producer countries have raised biofuel targets.
In the 2024-25 oil year (November-October) cooking oils imports were valued at $ 18.3 billion and are likely to exceed $ 19 billion because of elevated global prices of palm oils currently.
https://www.financialexpress.com/policy/economy/corporate-oil-palm-plantation-makes-headway-import-reliance-to-reduce/4308836/
---------
What has driven deforestation in the 21st century?
Most recent deforestation has been in the tropics; what are forests being cut down for?
Over the last two decades, the world has cut down forests at a rate of roughly one Costa Rica per year.1
The largest driver of deforestation has been the expansion of agriculture. This has been true for millennia, and it remains the case today.
But which products, in particular, have been responsible?
This data focuses on commodity-driven deforestation for agriculture and forestry, which accounts for more than 90% of tropical deforestation.A recent study, published in Nature Food by Chandrakant Singh and Martin Persson, answered this question.2
In the chart below, you can see how much deforestation has been caused by different agricultural commodities. This is shown as the annual average between 2001 and 2023.
Beef was, by far, the largest driver, accounting for 41% of the total. Cattle need a lot of land for grazing, which means that the growing global demand for beef has led to the expansion of pasture. Beef alone has led to the destruction of more than two UK-sized areas of forest this century.
The second-largest driver was oilseeds. This category is dominated by deforestation for soy and palm oil; a lot of forest was lost to these plantations, especially in the first decade (as we’ll see later, these rates have fallen over the past ten years).
The other large drivers — accounting for 12% each — were forest plantations and cereal production.
Understanding what has driven deforestation is important, but so is understanding where the forests were lost.
Let’s then take the chart above, but break each bar into the respective regions where it happened. Looking at the chart below, we see that these losses are extremely geographically concentrated for many products.
https://ourworldindata.org/what-has-driven-deforestation-in-the-21st-century
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August 02, 2026
Only one-third of Malaysia exports to US face new tariff
KUALA LUMPUR: Only about one-third of Malaysia's exports to the United States will be subject to the new 10 per cent tariff under the US Trade Representative's (USTR) latest Section 301 action, according to CIMB Securities Sdn Bhd.
The firm estimated that 31.9 per cent of Malaysia's exports to the US will be subject to the Section 301 tariff, down from 33 per cent under the previous Section 122 regime.
CIMB Securities said this would move an estimated RM3.3 billion of Malaysian exports out of the tariff's scope and lower the trade-weighted effective tariff rate to 5.1 per cent from 5.2 per cent.
The 10 per cent tariff on Malaysian goods took effect on July 24, replacing the 10 per cent tariff imposed under Section 122, which expired on the same day after reaching its maximum 150-day duration.
The USTR's final action followed its investigation into forced labour practices in 60 economies, including Malaysia.
The agency said the tariffs were intended to encourage countries to eliminate practices deemed actionable under Section 301.
CIMB Securities said Malaysia and Indonesia were assigned a 10 per cent rate, compared with 12.5 per cent for Thailand and Singapore, reflecting commitments made by Malaysia and Indonesia under their respective agreements with the US on forced labour import prohibitions.
Malaysia also received country-specific exemptions for palm oil, palm kernel oil, oleochemicals and wood products, among other products.
Of the newly exempted exports, about RM2.1 billion comprises palm oil, palm kernel oil, oleochemicals and plywood, while most of the remainder consists of semiconductor measuring and testing instruments added to the universal exemption list.
CIMB Securities said rubber gloves remain the largest tariffed product group, with about RM6.5 billion of exports subject to the duty, followed by printing machinery parts and medical instruments at about RM4.5 billion each.
However, the firm expects Malaysia's tariff exposure to rise after a separate Section 301 investigation into structural excess capacity concludes.
The investigation covers 16 economies, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand.
Public hearings were held in May, but the USTR has yet to publish its findings or proposed measures.
CIMB Securities said it continued to expect additional tariffs following the investigation, potentially lifting Malaysia's headline tariff rate back towards the 15 to 19 per cent range.
It said the forced labour action leaves Malaysia's tariff exposure largely unchanged from the previous Section 122 regime, but this could change once excess-capacity tariffs are imposed.
https://www.nst.com.my/business/corporate/2026/08/1502663/only-one-third-malaysia-us-exports-face-new-tariff
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MPOB funds RM500K project with the Institute of Climate Change at UKM to study palm oil's carbon footprint
AS sustainability becomes an increasingly important global priority, measuring and reducing carbon emissions has become a key focus across industries.
In Malaysia, the government aims to reduce carbon emissions intensity by 45% by 2030 and achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
To support this effort, the Institute of Climate Change at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) has received a RM500,000 research grant from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) to develop a comprehensive carbon footprint inventory for the country’s palm oil sector.
The research initiative, which falls under the 13th Malaysia Plan, is expected to generate more accurate scientific data to support policymaking, meet international market requirements, and enhance the transparency and credibility of Malaysia’s palm oil industry.
It will produce a database on greenhouse gas emissions throughout the fresh fruit bunch production chain, with the data forming the basis for carbon footprint and life cycle assessments of Malaysia’s palm oil sector in accordance with international standards, the varsity said in a July 10 press release.
UKM vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Sufian Jusoh said the grant would enable a research team led by Prof Dr Marlia Mohd Hanafiah to undertake a study aimed at strengthening the global competitiveness of Malaysia’s palm oil industry while supporting the nation’s decarbonisation agenda.
“This commitment not only demonstrates our readiness to address the challenges of climate change and the transition to a low-carbon economy, but also reflects UKM’s capability to produce world-class researchers in sustainability and climate science, while strengthening the country’s climate governance and sustainability ecosystem,” he said at the UKM-MPOB memorandum of agreement (MoA) signing ceremony.
Prof Sufian expressed hope that the national initiative would bring significant benefits to the country and the wider community.
Meanwhile, MPOB director-general Datuk Dr Ahmad Parveez Ghulam Kadir said the board, an agency under the Plantation and Commodities Ministry, remains committed to ensuring that the country’s palm oil industry remains sustainable, relevant and globally competitive amid increasingly stringent environmental standards.
He added that the data gathered through the joint research would not only be crucial for assessing the life cycle and carbon footprint of fresh fruit bunch production, but could also be expanded to evaluate other energy sources, such as used cooking oil and empty fruit bunches, to strengthen the country’s sustainable energy research.
https://www.thestar.com.my/news/education/2026/08/02/rm500k-study-on-palm-oils-carbon-footprint#goog_rewarded
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Nigeria’s top palm oil makers’ profits fall as cheaper imports bite
Presco Plc and Okomu Oil Palm Plc, listed Nigerian palm oil manufacturers, are beginning to feel the pressure from falling domestic prices as cheaper imports squeeze margins.
The companies, which rely heavily on local agricultural production, struggled to pass on increased costs to customers, leading to a dip in profitability.
Half-year financial statements reviewed by BusinessDay show that the country’s two largest listed oil palm companies delivered a combined revenue of N323.9 billion and profit after tax of N121.9 billion in the first six months of 2026. However, beneath those headline numbers lies an emerging slowdown that mirrors the growing strains across Nigeria’s palm oil industry.
Presco reported revenue of N198.7 billion in H1 2026, unchanged from the same period last year, while profit after tax declined 7.3 percent to N82.2 billion from N88.7 billion.
Okomu’s performance weakened further. Revenue fell 3.5 percent to N125.2 billion from N129.8 billion, while profit after tax dropped 16.4 percent to N39.7 billion, compared with N47.5 billion a year earlier.
The earnings moderation comes after an extraordinary period of expansion.
Combined revenues of both companies have increased from N82.4 billion in H1 2022 to N323.9 billion in H1 2026, representing almost a four-fold increase in four years. Combined profit after tax climbed from N30.2 billion to N121.9 billion over the same period, reflecting how soaring palm oil prices and capacity expansion transformed the economics of Nigeria’s plantation business.
Yet the industry’s strongest growth phase appears to be giving way to a more uncertain operating environment.
The tariff decision is changing the market
In April, the Federal Government approved new fiscal policy measures that reduced import tariffs on crude palm oil to 28.75 percent from 35 percent, alongside duty reductions on several food commodities as part of efforts to moderate inflation.
The decision was intended to lower food costs, but plantation operators argue that it has also opened the domestic market to cheaper imports at a time when local producers are investing heavily to expand capacity.
According to the Foreign Trade Statistics report for the first quarter of 2026 released by the NBS, crude palm oil ranked among the agricultural products imported into the country between January and March 2026.
The data disclosed that Africa’s most populous country spent N23 billion, representing a 30.26 percent increase from the same period of last year in importing crude palm oil from fellow West African countries within three months.
“The industry is at an existential moment,” Emmanuel Ibru, chairman of the Plantation Owners Forum of Nigeria (POFON), said, warning that billions of dollars invested by indigenous and foreign companies could be undermined by rising imports of cheaper crude palm oil.
https://businessday.ng/market-intelligence/article/presco-okomu-profits-drop-on-rising-cheap-imports/
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Only one-third of Malaysia exports to US face new tariff
KUALA LUMPUR: Only about one-third of Malaysia's exports to the United States will be subject to the new 10 per cent tariff under the US Trade Representative's (USTR) latest Section 301 action, according to CIMB Securities Sdn Bhd.
The firm estimated that 31.9 per cent of Malaysia's exports to the US will be subject to the Section 301 tariff, down from 33 per cent under the previous Section 122 regime.
CIMB Securities said this would move an estimated RM3.3 billion of Malaysian exports out of the tariff's scope and lower the trade-weighted effective tariff rate to 5.1 per cent from 5.2 per cent.
The 10 per cent tariff on Malaysian goods took effect on July 24, replacing the 10 per cent tariff imposed under Section 122, which expired on the same day after reaching its maximum 150-day duration.
The USTR's final action followed its investigation into forced labour practices in 60 economies, including Malaysia.
The agency said the tariffs were intended to encourage countries to eliminate practices deemed actionable under Section 301.
CIMB Securities said Malaysia and Indonesia were assigned a 10 per cent rate, compared with 12.5 per cent for Thailand and Singapore, reflecting commitments made by Malaysia and Indonesia under their respective agreements with the US on forced labour import prohibitions.
Malaysia also received country-specific exemptions for palm oil, palm kernel oil, oleochemicals and wood products, among other products.
Of the newly exempted exports, about RM2.1 billion comprises palm oil, palm kernel oil, oleochemicals and plywood, while most of the remainder consists of semiconductor measuring and testing instruments added to the universal exemption list.
CIMB Securities said rubber gloves remain the largest tariffed product group, with about RM6.5 billion of exports subject to the duty, followed by printing machinery parts and medical instruments at about RM4.5 billion each.
However, the firm expects Malaysia's tariff exposure to rise after a separate Section 301 investigation into structural excess capacity concludes.
The investigation covers 16 economies, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand.
Public hearings were held in May, but the USTR has yet to publish its findings or proposed measures.
CIMB Securities said it continued to expect additional tariffs following the investigation, potentially lifting Malaysia's headline tariff rate back towards the 15 to 19 per cent range.
It said the forced labour action leaves Malaysia's tariff exposure largely unchanged from the previous Section 122 regime, but this could change once excess-capacity tariffs are imposed.
https://www.nst.com.my/business/corporate/2026/08/1502663/only-one-third-malaysia-us-exports-face-new-tariff
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MPOB funds RM500K project with the Institute of Climate Change at UKM to study palm oil's carbon footprint
AS sustainability becomes an increasingly important global priority, measuring and reducing carbon emissions has become a key focus across industries.
In Malaysia, the government aims to reduce carbon emissions intensity by 45% by 2030 and achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
To support this effort, the Institute of Climate Change at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) has received a RM500,000 research grant from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) to develop a comprehensive carbon footprint inventory for the country’s palm oil sector.
The research initiative, which falls under the 13th Malaysia Plan, is expected to generate more accurate scientific data to support policymaking, meet international market requirements, and enhance the transparency and credibility of Malaysia’s palm oil industry.
It will produce a database on greenhouse gas emissions throughout the fresh fruit bunch production chain, with the data forming the basis for carbon footprint and life cycle assessments of Malaysia’s palm oil sector in accordance with international standards, the varsity said in a July 10 press release.
UKM vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Sufian Jusoh said the grant would enable a research team led by Prof Dr Marlia Mohd Hanafiah to undertake a study aimed at strengthening the global competitiveness of Malaysia’s palm oil industry while supporting the nation’s decarbonisation agenda.
“This commitment not only demonstrates our readiness to address the challenges of climate change and the transition to a low-carbon economy, but also reflects UKM’s capability to produce world-class researchers in sustainability and climate science, while strengthening the country’s climate governance and sustainability ecosystem,” he said at the UKM-MPOB memorandum of agreement (MoA) signing ceremony.
Prof Sufian expressed hope that the national initiative would bring significant benefits to the country and the wider community.
Meanwhile, MPOB director-general Datuk Dr Ahmad Parveez Ghulam Kadir said the board, an agency under the Plantation and Commodities Ministry, remains committed to ensuring that the country’s palm oil industry remains sustainable, relevant and globally competitive amid increasingly stringent environmental standards.
He added that the data gathered through the joint research would not only be crucial for assessing the life cycle and carbon footprint of fresh fruit bunch production, but could also be expanded to evaluate other energy sources, such as used cooking oil and empty fruit bunches, to strengthen the country’s sustainable energy research.
https://www.thestar.com.my/news/education/2026/08/02/rm500k-study-on-palm-oils-carbon-footprint#goog_rewarded
--------
Nigeria’s top palm oil makers’ profits fall as cheaper imports bite
Presco Plc and Okomu Oil Palm Plc, listed Nigerian palm oil manufacturers, are beginning to feel the pressure from falling domestic prices as cheaper imports squeeze margins.
The companies, which rely heavily on local agricultural production, struggled to pass on increased costs to customers, leading to a dip in profitability.
Half-year financial statements reviewed by BusinessDay show that the country’s two largest listed oil palm companies delivered a combined revenue of N323.9 billion and profit after tax of N121.9 billion in the first six months of 2026. However, beneath those headline numbers lies an emerging slowdown that mirrors the growing strains across Nigeria’s palm oil industry.
Presco reported revenue of N198.7 billion in H1 2026, unchanged from the same period last year, while profit after tax declined 7.3 percent to N82.2 billion from N88.7 billion.
Okomu’s performance weakened further. Revenue fell 3.5 percent to N125.2 billion from N129.8 billion, while profit after tax dropped 16.4 percent to N39.7 billion, compared with N47.5 billion a year earlier.
The earnings moderation comes after an extraordinary period of expansion.
Combined revenues of both companies have increased from N82.4 billion in H1 2022 to N323.9 billion in H1 2026, representing almost a four-fold increase in four years. Combined profit after tax climbed from N30.2 billion to N121.9 billion over the same period, reflecting how soaring palm oil prices and capacity expansion transformed the economics of Nigeria’s plantation business.
Yet the industry’s strongest growth phase appears to be giving way to a more uncertain operating environment.
The tariff decision is changing the market
In April, the Federal Government approved new fiscal policy measures that reduced import tariffs on crude palm oil to 28.75 percent from 35 percent, alongside duty reductions on several food commodities as part of efforts to moderate inflation.
The decision was intended to lower food costs, but plantation operators argue that it has also opened the domestic market to cheaper imports at a time when local producers are investing heavily to expand capacity.
According to the Foreign Trade Statistics report for the first quarter of 2026 released by the NBS, crude palm oil ranked among the agricultural products imported into the country between January and March 2026.
The data disclosed that Africa’s most populous country spent N23 billion, representing a 30.26 percent increase from the same period of last year in importing crude palm oil from fellow West African countries within three months.
“The industry is at an existential moment,” Emmanuel Ibru, chairman of the Plantation Owners Forum of Nigeria (POFON), said, warning that billions of dollars invested by indigenous and foreign companies could be undermined by rising imports of cheaper crude palm oil.
https://businessday.ng/market-intelligence/article/presco-okomu-profits-drop-on-rising-cheap-imports/
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August 01, 2026
Palm oil expansion reignites decade-old Indigenous land conflict in Indonesia
In June 2025, the Indigenous Dayak Benuaq community of Muara Tae reported that the two companies — PT Borneo Surya Mining Jaya (BSMJ), owned by Singapore-listed First Resources, and PT Munte Waniq Jaya Perkasa (MWJP), a subsidiary of Malaysia-owned TSH Resources — had restarted land clearing and evictions in what the community says is its ancestral territory.
The latest activities mark a new chapter in one of Indonesia’s highest-profile land conflicts involving the palm oil industry, which Mongabay covered in an in-depth report in 2015.
The dispute dates back to 2011-2012, when BSMJ and MWJP began bulldozing rainforest in an area claimed by Muara Tae, a village in West Kutai district, East Kalimantan province.
The companies say they bought leasehold rights from residents of Muara Ponaq, a village next to Muara Tae. But Muara Tae has contended the companies colluded with individuals in Muara Ponaq who fraudulently signed away hundreds of hectares of Muara Tae’s communally held land, in exchange for hundreds of millions of rupiah.
The district government facilitated the transactions by redrawing the Tae-Ponaq border, increasing the latter’s territory at the expense of the former. The district chief at the time, Ismael Thomas, was later convicted of corruption in a separate case related to his time in office.
“The companies have taken advantage of the administrative boundary established by the West Kutai district head in 2012, allowing certain individuals from Muara Ponaq to freely claim the customary land of Muara Tae residents and sell it to the company,” Masrani, who was the Muara Tae village chief during the previous peak of the dispute, told Mongabay in a recent interview.
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/palm-oil-expansion-reignites-decade-old-indigenous-land-conflict-in-indonesia/
---------
Downstream Products Now Account for Over 80% of Indonesia's Palm Oil Exports
Pangkalan Bun. More than 80% of Indonesia's palm oil exports now consist of value-added downstream products rather than crude palm oil, reflecting the growing impact of the government's industrialization strategy, an official said.
Zaid Burhan Ibrahim, finance director of the Palm Oil Plantation Fund Management Agency (BPDP), said palm oil remains one of Indonesia's leading export commodities, generating more than $20 billion in annual export revenue.
"More than 80% of Indonesia's palm oil exports are now in the form of downstream products. This shows that downstream industrialization is creating greater added value for the national economy," Zaid said during a press briefing in Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan.
He said Indonesia's downstream palm oil industry has expanded through four major sectors.
The first is food and consumer products, which process crude palm oil (CPO) and crude palm kernel oil (CPKO) into products such as cooking oil, margarine, bakery ingredients, and vitamins A and E.
The second is the oleochemical industry, which supplies raw materials for products including soap, detergents, cosmetics, and skincare items.
The third is renewable energy, where palm oil is processed into biodiesel, sustainable aviation fuel, and blended gasoline.
The fourth utilizes palm biomass, including empty fruit bunches, fronds, trunks, and fibers, to produce products such as animal feed, handicrafts, and bioethanol.
According to Zaid, the expansion of these downstream industries has not only increased the value of Indonesia's exports but also broadened the economic benefits generated by the palm oil sector.
https://jakartaglobe.id/business/downstream-products-now-account-for-over-80-of-indonesias-palm-oil-exports
---------
Is deforestation law finally ready to fly?
Under pressure from businesses and campaigners, UK ministers are at last set to crack down on illegal forest loss linked to key food commodities
“The world’s rainforests are to be better protected from deforestation,” read the first line of the Defra press release issued during London Climate Action Week in June.
Campaigners may have suggested the word ‘finally’ be added to the statement, such has been the lag between the UK Government giving itself the powers to tackle illegal deforestation and choosing to deploy them.
The Environment Act 2021 included provisions to make it mandatory for large companies to carry out due diligence checks to ensure there is no illegal deforestation in their supply chains for forest-risk commodities such as soy, beef and palm oil. Yet five years on, successive governments have failed to enact the secondary legislation needed to put the rules into effect.
Spurred on by the imminent introduction of the EU’s deforestation regulation (EUDR), which has been subject to its own set of delays and revisions and is now scheduled to come into force at the end of this year, the UK Government has at last published a policy paper outlining its proposed approach to deforestation regulations, although we still await a full consultation.
Currently, British companies have no legal duty to check whether commodities and products they import have been produced on illegally deforested land. Experts say this means foods on UK supermarket shelves, and served in foodservice settings, are almost certainly linked to illegal deforestation in places such as the Amazon, West Africa and Indonesia. A lack of transparency and traceability makes it hard to pinpoint exactly which foods these are. “What we can say is that there are commodities that have been grown on deforested land, and the UK supply is linked to those regions,” says Gemma Hoskins, global climate lead and UK director at the NGO, Mighty Earth.
Deadlines for voluntary industry commitments to deliver deforestation- and conversion-free supply chains have frequently come and gone over the past two decades – 2025 being the latest to be missed for soy specifically. Getting the UK forest loss legislation into the statute book is especially urgent for soy with the Amazon Soy Moratorium on the brink of collapse.
So are ministers finally set to take decisive steps to end the use of deforestation-linked food commodities? Or does this long and frustrating journey have numerous twists and turns yet to take?
https://foodservicefootprint.com/uk-deforestation-law-action/
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Presco targets Ondo with $200m oil palm investment, as Aiyedatiwa pledges investor-friendly climate
Ondo State’s drive to deepen agricultural industrialisation received a major boost as Presco Plc unveiled plans to invest an initial $200 million in large-scale oil palm plantations, alongside the establishment of a processing mill and refinery in the state.
The disclosure was made during a courtesy visit by the management of the agro-industrial giant to Governor Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa in Akure, where the governor assured the company of a conducive investment climate, including access to land, robust security and accelerated approvals.
Presco Plc’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr Rasheed Sarumi, described the company’s planned expansion into Ondo State as a strategic “homecoming,” noting that the move signals a return to the South-West after years of operating outside the region.
“Coming to Ondo State is a sort of homecoming for us. Ondo State, from today, is part of the Presco Plc network,” Sarumi said.
He attributed the decision to invest in the state to the investor friendly policies of the Aiyedatiwa administration, adding that Presco, a subsidiary of the SIAT Group, is well positioned to drive value across the oil palm value chain.
Sarumi highlighted Nigeria’s growing deficit in crude palm oil, estimated at nearly one million tonnes, stressing that the proposed investment would help bridge the supply gap and reduce dependence on imports.
https://thenicheng.com/presco-targets-ondo-with-200m-oil-palm-investment-as-aiyedatiwa-pledges-investor-friendly-climate/
Palm oil news, August 2026
Palm oil expansion reignites decade-old Indigenous land conflict in Indonesia
- Two palm oil companies have resumed clearing forest in a long-disputed Indigenous community in Indonesian Borneo, more than a decade after international pressure halted operations.
- The Dayak Benuaq community of Muara Tae says the companies are clearing its ancestral land without its consent, while the companies maintain they legally acquired the land from a neighboring village.
- Community members say the renewed clearing is destroying regenerating forest and farms central to their livelihoods, despite years of advocacy, international recognition, and an unresolved complaint to the RSPO, the top certifier of sustainable palm oil.
- Advocates say the dispute exposes persistent weaknesses in Indonesia’s recognition of Indigenous land rights, allowing companies to rely on administrative boundaries that communities say override customary ownership.
In June 2025, the Indigenous Dayak Benuaq community of Muara Tae reported that the two companies — PT Borneo Surya Mining Jaya (BSMJ), owned by Singapore-listed First Resources, and PT Munte Waniq Jaya Perkasa (MWJP), a subsidiary of Malaysia-owned TSH Resources — had restarted land clearing and evictions in what the community says is its ancestral territory.
The latest activities mark a new chapter in one of Indonesia’s highest-profile land conflicts involving the palm oil industry, which Mongabay covered in an in-depth report in 2015.
The dispute dates back to 2011-2012, when BSMJ and MWJP began bulldozing rainforest in an area claimed by Muara Tae, a village in West Kutai district, East Kalimantan province.
The companies say they bought leasehold rights from residents of Muara Ponaq, a village next to Muara Tae. But Muara Tae has contended the companies colluded with individuals in Muara Ponaq who fraudulently signed away hundreds of hectares of Muara Tae’s communally held land, in exchange for hundreds of millions of rupiah.
The district government facilitated the transactions by redrawing the Tae-Ponaq border, increasing the latter’s territory at the expense of the former. The district chief at the time, Ismael Thomas, was later convicted of corruption in a separate case related to his time in office.
“The companies have taken advantage of the administrative boundary established by the West Kutai district head in 2012, allowing certain individuals from Muara Ponaq to freely claim the customary land of Muara Tae residents and sell it to the company,” Masrani, who was the Muara Tae village chief during the previous peak of the dispute, told Mongabay in a recent interview.
https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/palm-oil-expansion-reignites-decade-old-indigenous-land-conflict-in-indonesia/
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Downstream Products Now Account for Over 80% of Indonesia's Palm Oil Exports
Pangkalan Bun. More than 80% of Indonesia's palm oil exports now consist of value-added downstream products rather than crude palm oil, reflecting the growing impact of the government's industrialization strategy, an official said.
Zaid Burhan Ibrahim, finance director of the Palm Oil Plantation Fund Management Agency (BPDP), said palm oil remains one of Indonesia's leading export commodities, generating more than $20 billion in annual export revenue.
"More than 80% of Indonesia's palm oil exports are now in the form of downstream products. This shows that downstream industrialization is creating greater added value for the national economy," Zaid said during a press briefing in Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan.
He said Indonesia's downstream palm oil industry has expanded through four major sectors.
The first is food and consumer products, which process crude palm oil (CPO) and crude palm kernel oil (CPKO) into products such as cooking oil, margarine, bakery ingredients, and vitamins A and E.
The second is the oleochemical industry, which supplies raw materials for products including soap, detergents, cosmetics, and skincare items.
The third is renewable energy, where palm oil is processed into biodiesel, sustainable aviation fuel, and blended gasoline.
The fourth utilizes palm biomass, including empty fruit bunches, fronds, trunks, and fibers, to produce products such as animal feed, handicrafts, and bioethanol.
According to Zaid, the expansion of these downstream industries has not only increased the value of Indonesia's exports but also broadened the economic benefits generated by the palm oil sector.
https://jakartaglobe.id/business/downstream-products-now-account-for-over-80-of-indonesias-palm-oil-exports
---------
Is deforestation law finally ready to fly?
Under pressure from businesses and campaigners, UK ministers are at last set to crack down on illegal forest loss linked to key food commodities
“The world’s rainforests are to be better protected from deforestation,” read the first line of the Defra press release issued during London Climate Action Week in June.
Campaigners may have suggested the word ‘finally’ be added to the statement, such has been the lag between the UK Government giving itself the powers to tackle illegal deforestation and choosing to deploy them.
The Environment Act 2021 included provisions to make it mandatory for large companies to carry out due diligence checks to ensure there is no illegal deforestation in their supply chains for forest-risk commodities such as soy, beef and palm oil. Yet five years on, successive governments have failed to enact the secondary legislation needed to put the rules into effect.
Spurred on by the imminent introduction of the EU’s deforestation regulation (EUDR), which has been subject to its own set of delays and revisions and is now scheduled to come into force at the end of this year, the UK Government has at last published a policy paper outlining its proposed approach to deforestation regulations, although we still await a full consultation.
Currently, British companies have no legal duty to check whether commodities and products they import have been produced on illegally deforested land. Experts say this means foods on UK supermarket shelves, and served in foodservice settings, are almost certainly linked to illegal deforestation in places such as the Amazon, West Africa and Indonesia. A lack of transparency and traceability makes it hard to pinpoint exactly which foods these are. “What we can say is that there are commodities that have been grown on deforested land, and the UK supply is linked to those regions,” says Gemma Hoskins, global climate lead and UK director at the NGO, Mighty Earth.
Deadlines for voluntary industry commitments to deliver deforestation- and conversion-free supply chains have frequently come and gone over the past two decades – 2025 being the latest to be missed for soy specifically. Getting the UK forest loss legislation into the statute book is especially urgent for soy with the Amazon Soy Moratorium on the brink of collapse.
So are ministers finally set to take decisive steps to end the use of deforestation-linked food commodities? Or does this long and frustrating journey have numerous twists and turns yet to take?
https://foodservicefootprint.com/uk-deforestation-law-action/
--------
Presco targets Ondo with $200m oil palm investment, as Aiyedatiwa pledges investor-friendly climate
Ondo State’s drive to deepen agricultural industrialisation received a major boost as Presco Plc unveiled plans to invest an initial $200 million in large-scale oil palm plantations, alongside the establishment of a processing mill and refinery in the state.
The disclosure was made during a courtesy visit by the management of the agro-industrial giant to Governor Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa in Akure, where the governor assured the company of a conducive investment climate, including access to land, robust security and accelerated approvals.
Presco Plc’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr Rasheed Sarumi, described the company’s planned expansion into Ondo State as a strategic “homecoming,” noting that the move signals a return to the South-West after years of operating outside the region.
“Coming to Ondo State is a sort of homecoming for us. Ondo State, from today, is part of the Presco Plc network,” Sarumi said.
He attributed the decision to invest in the state to the investor friendly policies of the Aiyedatiwa administration, adding that Presco, a subsidiary of the SIAT Group, is well positioned to drive value across the oil palm value chain.
Sarumi highlighted Nigeria’s growing deficit in crude palm oil, estimated at nearly one million tonnes, stressing that the proposed investment would help bridge the supply gap and reduce dependence on imports.
https://thenicheng.com/presco-targets-ondo-with-200m-oil-palm-investment-as-aiyedatiwa-pledges-investor-friendly-climate/
Palm oil news, August 2026
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