Indonesian companies have one-and-a half months to introduce the new B40 biodiesel blend
Yuliot Tajung, deputy minister of energy and mineral resources in Indonesia, told reporters Friday that Indonesian companies would have a transition period of one and a half months to meet the B40 biodiesel requirements.
The industry is still waiting on technical regulations.
The largest palm oil exporter in the world currently mandates a biodiesel blend of 35%.
Yuliot stated that the transition period began on January 1.
The market participants are awaiting the official decree that details the amount of biodiesel Indonesia will allocate fuel retailers in order to gauge the impact on palm oil exports.
Fuel retailers and biodiesel manufacturers have stated that they cannot draw up contracts for the distribution of biodiesel without this decree.
Yuliot refused to reveal when the decree would be published, saying that the details would be announced "hopefully shortly" by the minister of energy.
Dadan Kusdiana is the secretary general of the ministry. He said that the process of approval for the allocation of biodiesel was currently at its final stage.
Yuliot reaffirmed the government's plans to allocate 15,6 million kilolitres biodiesel in this year.
The delay led to a 2.6% drop in the benchmark contract for Malaysian palm oil on Thursday. It recovered by around 1% on Friday as of 0632 GMT. (Reporting and writing by Bernadette Cristina Munthe, Fransiska Naangoy, editing by John Mair & Savio D’Souza).
(source: Reuters)
