Remarks of President of the Republic of Indonesia on the Inauguration of Biodiesel Factory PT Jhonlin Agro Raya (JAR), 21 October 2021 at Tanah Bumbu Regency, South Kalimantan Province

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.

Assalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,

Good morning,

May prosperity be upon us all.

Distinguished Minister of State Secretary and Minister of State-owned Enterprises,

Distinguished Governor of South Kalimantan Province and Regent of Tanah Bumbu Regency,

Distinguished Board of Directors and Board of Commissioners of PT Jhonlin Group Mr. Andi Syamsuddin Arsyad and Commissioner Mr. Amran Sulaiman,

Distinguished religious leaders, community leaders as well as senior police officers in attendance,

Ladies and Gentlemen.

As we are all aware, Indonesia has an enormous CPO (crude palm oil) potential of reaching 52 million tons per year. This is a huge number. Forty percent of the existing potential is owned by small-scale farmers.

With this great potential, we must not stop at producing CPO only or becoming CPO exporters. I have stated numerous times that we should not export raw materials. Downstreaming and industrialization must be carried out in which we must push the implementation.

Therefore, I’d like to express my appreciation to PT Jhonlin Group which has built a biodiesel factory and supported industrializing CPO to biodiesel. We hope that in the future there will be other companies that will start downstreaming and industrializing their CPO, be it into cooking oil, cosmetics, semi-finished goods, or other finished goods.

Once again, let me express my appreciation for what has been done by PT Jhonlin Group in turning CPO to Biodiesel 30 (B30). This will provide a great added value and create derivative products from CPO.

We have stopped exporting nickel. We are not allowed to export it. We already have smelters. There are factories that process the nickel into semi-finished goods and finished goods, one of which is lithium batteries used for electric cars that have high added value.

Meanwhile for copper, last week I inaugurated the world’s largest copper smelter that processes copper into finished or semi-finished goods. Today we can turn the CPO into biodiesel. We will continuously encourage companies in our country to process raw materials into semi-finished goods or finished goods.

The choice to strengthen the biodiesel industry is a very strategic one in the future.

First, It can strengthen our energy security and reduce the large trade balance deficit due to diesel imports, meaning that if we are able to produce our own biodiesel as a mixture material to produce diesel, our imports will drop drastically.

Based on the report, in 2020 we saved Rp38 trillion in foreign exchange and in 2021, it is estimated we can save foreign exchange amounting to up to Rp56 trillion. Most importantly it creates a lot of jobs. This is what the public needs: we build a smelter, a biodiesel factory so that it can create jobs. This is why I came to visit because PT Jhonlin is able to create many job opportunities.

Second, it can maintain CPO price. We should not let the market determine the price of our CPO. We should be able to control the price by controlling the export system. If the export price is good, we can export. Otherwise, we use it for domestic needs. We have those alternatives and options. We should ensure the stability of palm oil demand for farmers which in the end will bring benefits and welfare for the wider community.

Third, we also aim to develop biodiesel into new and renewable energy that improve the quality of the environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Lastly, let me emphasize once again that we must uphold our commitment to leave fossil energy and switch to new and renewable energy. Therefore, we must continue increasing the production of B30, and in 2021 we are targeting to produce and distribute 9.2 million kiloliters of biodiesel and the figure will increase even higher by next year.

These strategic steps clearly call for commitment and support from all of us, from upstream to downstream. In the upstream there is the palm oil and CPO industry, in the middle there is the biodiesel industry, in the downstream there will be biodiesel user industries, namely the transportation industry, power plants, and other industries.

That concludes my remarks on this auspicious occasion.

And by saying bismillahirrahmanirrahim, I hereby inaugurate the PT Jhonlin Agro Raya Biodiesel Plant in Tanah Bumbu Regency, South Kalimantan Province.

I thank you.

Wassalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. (EST/EP)