Indonesian Palm Oil Export Value Reaches Record High in May

The export value of palm oil products in May 2021 reached US$3.063 billion, which was a new all-time high of monthly export value, according to Indonesian Palm Oil Association (IPOA) press release on July 14. The record achievement was supported by the very high average price during May at US$1,241/ton cif Rotterdam, which was the highest monthly average price during the last 10 years.  The palm oil export value amounted to 18.5% of the total national export value during May at US$16.60 billion and resulted in a monthly trade balance of +US$2.37 billion.

The increase of export value was also supported by the rise of export volume to 2.952 million tons or an increase of 12.0% from that April 2021.  The biggest increase of export was seen by the processed products of crude palm oil (CPO) at 432,000 tons (+22.9%) to 2.318 million tons and the processed products of palm kernel oil (PKO) at 31,000 tons (34.8%) to 119,000 tons, while the exports of CPO and crude PKO dropped by 119,000 tons (-40%).

In terms of country destinations, the highest increase of export was seen to Pakistan by 138,000 tons to 265,500 tons, followed by Africa (excluded Egypt) by 103,600 tons to 243,200 tons, to Middle East (excluded Egypt) by 75,100 tons to 154,720 tons, while export to Egypt dropped by 15,800 tons to 77,000 tons.  The biggest export drop was seen to China by 157,600 tons to 487,300 tons and to India by 83,700 tons to 213,900 tons.