President Jokowi Inaugurates First Refined Palm Oil Factory in Indonesia
President Jokowi on Thursday (03/14) inaugurates Pagar Merbau refined palm oil factory in Deli Serdang, North Sumatra. Photo by: BPMI of Presidential Secretariat
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on Thursday (03/14) inaugurated Pagar Merbau refined palm oil factory in Deli Serdang, North Sumatra.
“We aim to generate the value added for domestic products. To that end, we have built the first refined palm oil factory and it is expected to generate the value added for palm oil farmers, especially those who join cooperatives. We hope that it can prevent price fluctuation of fresh fruit bunches because here we produce finished goods, namely refined palm oil,” the President said.
According to the President, Indonesia is home to 5.3 million hectares of palm oil plantations, of which 40.5 percent or 6.2 million hectares are owned by palm oil farmers.
“The price of refined palm oil is lower than cooking oil in the market. It means that this product can compete in the market, and the price is competitive,” he said, adding that refined palm oil contains Vitamin A and Vitamin E, so that the product is good for health.
On that occasion, the President also urged the public to use domestic products to support the sales and consumption of sustainable products.
The President further said that the opening of the factory is also part of downstreaming measures, namely the process of increasing the value added of commodities by processing them into finished goods.
For the record, the refined palm oil factory, with a production capacity of 10 tons of CPO (crude palm oil) per day, is expected to produce around 7 tons of refined palm oil every day.
After attending the factory’s inauguration, the President and his entourage will continue the working visit to Tanjungbalai using the Indonesian Air Force’s Super Puma helicopter. In Tanjungbalai, President Jokowi is slated to visit Kawat Market and inaugurate regional roads in North Sumatra province. (BPMI SETPRES/AIT) (TGH/UN) (RI/MUR)
