Monday, 08 November, 2010 | 19:15 WIB
TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:Some people regard the growth of the palm oil industry as the number one environmental enemy. Meanwhile, almost 50 percent of Indonesia’s palm oil is managed by farmers, not by big companies.
“This means that the growth of the palm oil industry increase farmer’s economic welfare,” said the Director and Corporate Secretary of PT Astra Agro Lestari Tbk, Santosa, in Lembang, last week.
According to Santosa, the world’s dependency on Indonesia’s crude palm oil is really high. He said Indonesia is the supplier of 90-95 percent of the world’s palm oil. “There is no other country that can fulfill that need besides Indonesia and Malaysia,” he said.
Santosa said that palm oil is one of Indonesia’s economic pillars. Right now, all palm oil companies in Indonesia employ 3 million workers, contributing up to 4.5 percent of GDP and adding to the country ‘s foreign reserves of US$ 10.5 billion.
The President Director of PT Agro Lestari, Widya Wiryawan, predicts that the domestic palm oil production will reach 25 million tons in the next five years. The increase is the result of the additional number of palm oil plantations, covering about 300-500.000 hectares. “Right now the volume of palm oil production is 20 millions ton per year,” he said.
Global demand for oil and vegetable oil is about 169 million tons per year with an average growth of 3 million tons per year. The demand for palm oil is the biggest, which is 7.7 percent or 46.6 million tons. Indonesia is the biggest palm oil producer with a production of 22 million tons or 45 percent, which could meet global and domestic consumers demand.
ROSALINA
News Source : Tempo Interactive
Photo Source : cedrus group, climatevoices,
Thanks to Mr. Ahmad Saiful Muhajir for the news tips!
Popularity: 2% [?]
November 11th, 2010 → 3:05 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Eviendo Hariyanto, Indonesia, Yeah !. Indonesia, Yeah ! said: The World’s Palm Oil Industry Depends on Indonesia: Monday, 08 November, 2010 | 19:15 WIB TEMPO Interactive, Jak… http://bit.ly/awiAdP [...]