Let Us Invest in Indonesia’s Sustainable Palm Oil

Over the years, there have been misplaced allegations made by various parties accusing the Indonesian palm oil industry of being unsustainable and unfriendly to the environment. These issues represent the concerns of various parties in Europe and around the world on the sustainability of the Indonesian palm oil industry. Rather than reacting to those attacks, the Government of Indonesia has taken consistent measures to ensure that all palm oil companies implement sustainable plantations, while promoting its downstream industries.

Currently, Indonesia maintains 21 million hectares of protected forest out of the existing 133 million hectares of forest across its islands. The protected forest keeps high biodiversity where the wild animal live freely. Indonesian oil palm plantations area in 2009 occupied 7,8 million hectares and in 2008 was 7,3 million hectares. From this amount, about 3,8 million hectares originated from forest while the remaining come from conversion of other uses.

Investment in palm oil industry in Indonesia is very prospective, in particular for the downstream processing industries. According to research, Indonesia was predicted to gain the higher share in capturing this market opportunity, 50 % of the world market. Total investment required for CPO plants development, in particular downstream industry of palm oil by 2020 is estimated US $ 567 million – 750 million.