Indonesia Plans Increase in Palm Oil-based Biodiesel In 2025
JAKARTA, July 24 (Reuters) – Indonesia, the world’s greatest palm oil producer, is testing fuel with a view to increasing to 40% from 35% the share of palm-oil blended into biodiesel next year, the energy ministry said.
If carried out, the B40 required could increase biodiesel usage to up to 16 million kilolitres (KL) next year, the ministry said, from 13 million KL estimated to be consumed in 2024.
“We hope the trials could be ended up in December, so that complete execution of B40 could be performed in 2025,” energy ministry senior main Eniya Listiani Dewi stated in a statement on Tuesday.
The Indonesian Biofuel Producers Association (APROBI) said the industry had the capability to meet B40 need, with installed capacity expected to rise to 20 million KL each year next year from 18 million KL now.
“However we will need more basic materials to satisfy B40 need,” Ernest Gunawan, the secretary general of APROBI informed Reuters on Wednesday.
The biodiesel market would require 13.9 million metric lots of unrefined palm oil to produce 16 million KL biodiesel next year, from the estimated 11 million heaps required this year, he added.
Indonesia’s most significant palm oil association GAPKI said a decrease in exports suggested there would suffice raw products to supply the B40 mandate for now.
But the would require to examine “which one would be more valuable”, GAPKI chairman Eddy Martono said, describing the possibility a boost in exports would make supplying the domestic market less practical.
Indonesia’s palm oil output is estimated to reach 54.4 million loads in 2024, a 2.26% boost from in 2015, while exports are anticipated to decline by 2.47% to 29.5 million heaps as domestic intake rose, driven by biodiesel required.
The ministry had checked the biodiesel, combined with 40% of palm oil, on a train for the first time earlier today, while preparing to test the B40 mix on agriculture machinery, power plants and in the shipping industry, it stated. (Reporting by Bernadette Christina and Dewi Kurniawati; Writing by Stanley Widianto; Editing by John Mair, Savio D’Souza and Barbara Lewis)
