JAKARTA, SAWIT INDONESIA – Black campaign against palm oil related to the trading competition of vegetable oil. The Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Darmin Nasution, said that the attack on the Indonesian palm oil is due to business competition in vegetable oil sector.

“Palm oil has always been leading the world’s vegetable oil market, overpowering the commodities of soybean and sunflower oil. Moreover, Indonesia is still a major player in the world’s biggest CPO business,” he said during a palm oil forum in early February 2017.

Darmin said that palm oil is a blessing for Indonesia. “We have to fight and hold a campaign for the Indonesian palm oil in the International community. We must work together to strengthen our flagship product, our pride, palm oil,” he said.

Considering the role of the palm oil industry as a major contributor of Indonesian foreign exchange, the government will keep developing palm oil plantations and will make the palm oil entrepreneurs and investors as partners in the palm oil industry while maintaining the law to preserve the environment.

A member of Commission IV of the Parliament, Hamdhani, S.IP, expressed similar support for the development of Indonesian palm oil industry.

“Ignore what the international NGOs say as long as the investors adhere to the rules established by the Indonesian Government,” said the Legislator who supervises the field of Agriculture, Plantation, Forestry, Marine, Fisheries, and Food yesterday, Sunday (26/2).

According to him, the most important thing is that their operations have been conducted in accordance to the Law No. 39 of 2014 on Plantations, one of which is about land clearing provisions in accordance with the Plantation Areas (APL) specifically for palm oil plantations.

Source: sawitindonesia.com