Meeting European Council President, President Jokowi Seeks Support for Facilitation of Indonesias Palm Oil Imports into Europe
Meeting European Council President, President Jokowi Seeks Support for Facilitation of Indonesias Palm Oil Imports into Europe
President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) requested European Union to facilitate Indonesias palm oil product imports into European countries. President Jokowi expressed this request when he received European Council President Herman Van Rompuy in Merdeka Palace Jakarta on Wednesday morning (19/11).
I told them about the obstacles to our palm oil imports into Europe. We need their help to facilitate our palm oil imports into Europe, because palm oil is not produced only by big companies. Remember that 45 percent of our palm oil products come from our small farmers, President Jokowi said to journalists after meeting European Council delegation which was led by European Council President Herman Van Rompuy.
As known, palm oil is one of Indonesias main commodities, and European Union ranks number third of the ten largest exporters of Indonesias palm oil.
It is estimated that palm oil will still be one of the most dominant commodities in European Union, especially due to its excellent characteristics of its textures which remain solid in room temperature while other kinds of oils will stay in their liquid form.
Oil palm also excels in its land-use efficiency and high productivity. According to data from Oil World 2011, compared with other plantations for vegetable oils, oil palm plantations consume only 12 million hectares of land or only 5 percent of the total lands of 253,923,000 hectares, while soya plantations consume 41 percent, canola plantations 13 percent, sunflower plantations 10 percent, and other similar plantations 3 percent.
The influences of Indonesias palm oil are so considerable that Indonesia is expected to produce 42 million tons of palm oil to fill the worlds needs in 2020, an increase from the estimation of the 2014 palm oil productions 29.5 million tons.
Indonesia has so far asserted firmly that palm oil production is sustainable and inclusive one, involves many farmers, and plays significant roles in eradicating poverty.
Inviting Investors
President Jokowi told Herman Van Rompuy that he also invites European investors to make investment in Indonesia.
European Union ranks number two in investment after Japan, so that we must continually foster our relations with them in order to make them increase their investment in Indonesia, President Jokowi said after seeing off his guests. (WID/Humas Setkab/ES)
