Detail

Indonesia

Biofuels

Biodiesel

01/06/2017

Trade

Bilateral cooperation

Conducted bilateral talks to explore the possibility of i) Indonesia assisting China in its efforts to raise domestic biodiesel consumption, and ii) China investing in Indonesia’s downstream palm oil processing sector.

According to media sources, representatives from the two countries discussed about the possibility of Indonesia supporting China in its goal to raise domestic biodiesel consumption. Reportedly, Indonesia is ready to cooperate with China, whether by supplying finished biodiesel, crude palm oil (as feedstock for biodiesel production), or the technology required to produce biodiesel. At the same time, Indonesia also invited China to invest in Indonesia’s downstream palm oil processing sector. Based on China’s 13th Five-Year-Plan, domestic biodiesel consumption would climb to 2 million tonnes by 2020 – from today’s level of less than 0.5 million tonnes. In the case of Indonesia, on the other hand, the biodiesel market is more mature and the industry is faced with excess production capacity – hence the search for new export markets.