Indonesia will lift its month-long ban on palm oil exports next week, President Joko Widodo said on May 21st.
The ban was put in place in April as a temporary measure to stop local producers taking advantage of higher prices abroad and leaving domestic consumers short of supplies.
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The war in Ukraine and sanctions against Russia, combined with weather events in South America and Canada, have seen prices for all vegetable oils soar. Indonesia produces about 60% of the world’s palm oil.
The Indonesian authorities had enforced the export ban rigorously, with one container ship detained even though palm oil made up only a fraction of the vessel’s contents, had been loaded before the ban was put in place, and over which the operator of the vessel had no control.
Earlier, Britannia Club’s local local office in Singapore informed that a number of foreign flagged ships have been arrested after Indonesia due to the ban.
