Fajarasia.co – The price of oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB) at the farmer level has started to climb, as the Government reopens the faucet for CPO exports.
Chairman of the DPP Indonesian Palm Oil Farmers Association (Apkasindo) Gulat Manurung said that FFB price increases had occurred in several provinces, especially those that already had a Governor’s Regulation (Pergub) on FFB Commerce.
“In general, President Jokowi’s announcement yesterday regarding the lifting of the CPO export ban has shown an improvement in farmers’ FFB prices, although it is still not completely normal,” said Gulat, Sunday (22/5) yesterday.
Since Friday (20/5/2022), the FFB price has started to improve, which is IDR 2,548 per kg for partnered farmers and IDR 2,011 per kg for independent smallholders. Previously, starting from April 28 to May 19, the FFB price was below the farmer’s capital price.
However, Gulat said, the price of FFB is still not normal. Because the price of FFB farmers should have been in the figure of Rp. 2,800 – Rp. 3,800 per kg. However, many palm oil mills are still buying smallholder FFB for below Rp. 2,800 per kg.
“This is due to the inability of the Ministry of Agriculture to maintain and ensure a fair price of FFB for farmers. There should no longer be an excuse for palm oil mills to push down the price of farmers’ FFB because the export faucet has started to open,” said Gulat.
He hopes that when the CPO export faucet is truly reopened, the FFB price can rise above Rp. 1,000 per kg of the HPP figure. In addition, his party also asked law enforcement officials to take firm action against palm oil mills who still buy FFB at low prices from farmers.
“We hope that starting May 23, after CPO exports actually take effect, there will be no more factories buying FFB at low prices,” he said.
As is well known, President Jokowi will re-open exports of CPO and cooking oil starting May 23, 2022, after being banned since April 28.
The opening of the export of CPO and cooking oil was after taking into account the current supply and price of cooking oil.
“As well as considering the 17 million workers in the palm oil industry, both farmers, workers, and other supporting staff,” said Jokowi, Thursday (19/5).***
