Indonesia necessitates UCO, Pome oil export approvals

Market: Agriculture, Biofuels, Emissions
08/01/25

Indonesian exporters of palm oil derivative products must now obtain approvals to ship them out of the country, according to a regulation released by the Indonesian ministry of trade today.

The palm oil derivative products include used cooking oil (UCO) and palm oil residue palm oil mill effluent (Pome) oil. The regulation is to ensure adequate availability of feedstocks to support the rollout of Indonesia's B40 mandate, under which companies will have to supply 40pc biodiesel blends from the end of February.

Export approvals will be valid for six months from the date of issuance, according to the regulation.

Further export policies will be discussed and agreed upon in an upcoming co-ordination meeting between relevant ministries and non-ministerial government institutions which market participants said is likely to be held on 13 or 14 January. The service for applying for export approvals will be temporarily suspended until the meeting is held. During the meeting, a quota system for exports might also be discussed, said Indonesia-based market participants.

An integrated team could also be formed to supervise exports, including bodies such as the Co-ordinating Ministry of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Trade, Industry, Agriculture, Finance and others.

Indonesia-origin UCO prices in flexibag have been on an uptrend since the end of October 2024, rising to over 1½-year highs of $960/t on 20 December, according to Argus' assessments. They were slightly higher at $965/t on 7 January and remained at that level on 8 January. Argus assessed Pome oil fob Indonesia at a 29-month high of $1,010/t on 9 December, although prices have since softened slightly to $960/t on 8 January.

Prices were driven up by escalating palm oil prices, and the country raising export levies on UCO and Pome oil to 6pc and 7.5pc of the monthly crude palm oil (CPO) reference price respectively in September last year.

More recently, UCO sellers were short on stocks, and rushed to aggregate volumes to fulfill export obligations.

Another round of export levy increases is looming, although market participants feel this might not be enough to fund B40 across all transport sectors as well. The country's ministry of energy and mineral resources said on 3 January that biodiesel producers and fuel retailers must supply 15.6mn kilolitres of biodiesel to fulfill the B40 mandate.

By Sarah Giam

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