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Indonesian delegation negotiating increased exports of oil palm products to Japan
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A worker checks fresh oil palm fruit bunches on a truck soon after harvest for PT Wanasawit Subur Lestari in Pangkalan Bun, East Kalimantan. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
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ndonesia is seeking to seal a deal to export more oil palm products to Japan, especially products that can be used as biomass, amid the latter’s growing appetite for renewable energy power generation.
An Indonesian delegation, which comprises representatives from the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, the Trade Ministry, the Indonesian Oil Palm Estate Fund (BPDP-KS) and various other associations, is visiting Tokyo and Osaka between July 10 and July 14 to conduct business meetings with at least 30 major Japanese importers.
Dikki Akhmar, chairman of the Indonesian Palm-Kernel Shell Business Association (Apcasi), said in a statement on Tuesday that his side expected to reach an agreement to supply palm-kernel shells for five biomass power plants in Japan with a combined capacity of 320 megawatts (MW) of electricity over the next 10 years.
Read also: In G20, RI fights opposition to palm oilAt present, renewable energy accounts for 14.6 percent of Japan’s national energy mix, 2 percent of which comes from bioenergy. The country aims to increase its renewable energy portion to 25 percent by 2030, with bioenergy contributing 4 percent of the total figure.
Therefore, demand for palm-kernel shells among Japanese companies has grown by more than 40 percent annually within the past three years, says Bayu Krisnamurthi, chairman of the Association of Agriculture Experts (Perhepi).
“Indonesia’s exports of palm-kernel shells reached 450,000 tons to Japan and 400,000 tons to South Korea in 2016, with a combined export value of more than Rp 1 trillion [US$74.93 million],” Bayu said. (bbn)
