Indonesia Plans Increase in Palm Oil-based Biodiesel In 2025

JAKARTA, July 24 (Reuters) – Indonesia, the world’s greatest palm oil producer, is checking fuel with a view to increasing to 40% from 35% the share of palm-oil combined into biodiesel next year, the energy ministry said.

If implemented, the B40 required might increase biodiesel consumption to up to 16 million kilolitres (KL) next year, the ministry stated, from 13 million KL approximated to be consumed in 2024.

“We hope the trials might be completed in December, so that complete execution of B40 might be performed in 2025,” energy ministry senior official Eniya Listiani Dewi said in a declaration on Tuesday.

The Indonesian Biofuel Producers Association (APROBI) stated the industry had the capability to satisfy B40 need, with set up capacity expected to rise to 20 million KL yearly next year from 18 million KL now.

“However we will require more basic materials to fulfill B40 need,” Ernest Gunawan, the secretary general of APROBI informed Reuters on Wednesday.

The biodiesel industry would need 13.9 million metric lots of crude palm oil to produce 16 million KL biodiesel next year, from the estimated 11 million loads required this year, he included.

Indonesia’s most significant palm oil association GAPKI stated a decrease in exports implied there would suffice basic materials to provide the B40 required in the meantime.

But the industry would require to assess “which one would be more important”, GAPKI chairman Eddy Martono said, describing the possibility a boost in exports would make supplying the domestic market less practical.

Indonesia’s palm oil output is estimated to reach 54.4 million heaps in 2024, a 2.26% boost from in 2015, while exports are expected to decline by 2.47% to 29.5 million loads as domestic consumption rose, driven by biodiesel required.

The ministry had tested the biodiesel, combined with 40% of palm oil, on a train for the very first time previously today, while preparing to check the B40 mix on agriculture equipment, power plants and in the shipping market, it stated. ( by Bernadette Christina and Dewi Kurniawati; Writing by Stanley Widianto; Editing by John Mair, Savio D’Souza and Barbara Lewis)