Indonesia suspects that virgin palm oil is mixed with used cooking oils exported by Indonesia

Indonesia announced on Thursday that its exports of used palm oil and cooking oil residues in recent years exceeded production capacity. This indicated crude palm oil had been mixed into the oil, prompting Indonesia to issue a regulation this week limiting shipments.

The world's largest palm oil exporter issued a decree on Wednesday to clamp down on the shipments of used palm oil and cooking oil residues. This was done in order to avoid a possible shortage of CPO at home.

Data from the Trade Ministry showed that exports of High Acid Palm Oil Residues (HAPOR) and Palm Oil Mill Effluents (POME) between January and October 2024 exceeded Indonesia's estimated total capacity of 300,000 tons.

The residues of palm oil can be converted into biofuels or fertilisers using POME and HAPOR.

Both products were shipped in volume of 3.45 million tonnes from January to October 2024, and 4.87 millions tons in 2023. This compares to CPO exports which were 2.70 million tonnes in the first 10 month of 2024, and 3.6 millions tons in 2023.

The ministry said that exports of POME, HAPOR and CPO decreased by 20% between 2019 and 2023.

In a statement to the press, Budi Santoso, trade minister said that "this justifies" (the view) of the exported POME or HAPOR being a mixture derived from virgin CPO and not only residues.

Budi stated that the availability of CPOs for domestic use may be in danger if export regulations are not implemented.

Authorities had previously claimed that some cooking oils sold under the government program "Minyakita", were mislabeled as used cooking oil, and then shipped overseas to be used for biodiesel.

In June 2024, another group of U.S. Senators claimed that fraudulently used cooking oil was shipped from China to the United States. This included some cargoes which might have contained virgin palm oil. Reporting by Dewi Kuritawati. (Editing by Gayatri Sroyo and Mark Potter.)

(source: Reuters)