Jakarta, The Indonesia Post – President Joko Widodo emphasized that no party should play around with cooking oil because its impact is detrimental to the people.
“I don’t want anyone playing games, the impact of which is to make it difficult for the people, to harm the people,” said President Jokowi in his statement at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, Thursday.
President Jokowi in a video broadcast on the Presidential Secretariat’s Youtube channel announced that the government will open the export of cooking oil starting Monday, May 23, 2022. The government has banned the export of crude palm oil (CPO) and its derivative products starting April 28, 2022.
“On the other hand, regarding the alleged violations and irregularities in the distribution and production of cooking oil, I have also ordered our legal apparatus to continue to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators,” said the President.
Even though the export faucet is opened, the government will continue to closely monitor and monitor it to ensure that the supply of cooking oil is met at an affordable price.
“I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the oil palm farmers for their understanding and support for government policies taken for the benefit of the wider community,” added the President.
Institutionally, according to President Jokowi, the government will also revamp procedures and regulations at the Palm Oil Plantation Fund Management Agency (BPDPKS).
“To continue to be simplified and facilitated, to be more adaptive and solution to the dynamics of supply and domestic oil prices so that people can be protected and their needs met,” said the President.
According to the President, the lifting of the ban on the export of CPO and its derivatives has taken into account the current supply and price of cooking oil.
“Also considering that there are 17 million workers in the palm oil industry, including farmers, workers, and other supporting staff,” added the President.
President Jokowi also revealed that based on direct inspections in the field and reports he received, it was proven that the supply of cooking oil continued to increase.
“The national demand for bulk cooking oil is approximately 194 thousand tons per month and in March before the export ban was imposed, our supply only reached 64.5 thousand tons,” said the President.
However, after the export ban was carried out in April, the supply of CPO and its derivative products reached 211,000 tons per month, exceeding the monthly national demand. In addition, there was a decrease in the national average price of cooking oil, from Rp. 19,800 per liter for bulk cooking oil to Rp. 17,200 – Rp. 17,600.
“The increase in supply and the decrease in prices is a joint effort by us both from the government, from BUMN and also from the private sector. Although there are indeed some areas where I know the price of cooking oil is still relatively high, I believe in the next few weeks the price of bulk cooking oil It will be more affordable towards the price we set because the availability is more abundant,” explained the President.
In the case of alleged corruption in the provision of CPO export facilities, the Attorney General’s Office investigator team has named five suspects.
The five are the Director General of Foreign Trade (Dirjen Daglu) of the Ministry of Trade Indrasari Wisnu Wardhana, Commissioner of PT Wilmar Nabati Indonesia Master Parulian Tumanggor, Senior Manager of Corporate Affairs of PT Pelita Agung Agrindustri/Permata Hijau Group Stanley MA, and General Manager of General Affairs Section of PT Musim Mas. Picare Tagore Sitanggang.
Furthermore, on Tuesday (17/5), the AGO named the fifth suspect, namely Lin Che Wei, an economist who collaborated with the suspect Indrasari Wisnu Wardhan in the issuance of export approvals (PE) to three CPO producers and cooking oil exports.
The actions of the suspects caused losses to the state economy, namely the expensiveness and scarcity of cooking oil, resulting in a decrease in household consumption and small industries that use cooking oil and complicate people’s lives. (ojn/mhn/bbs)
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