Indonesia banned the export of cooking oil and its raw materials on April 28
Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced Tuesday at the presidential palace in Jakarta that the government has decided to ban the export of cooking oil and its raw materials from May 28 to ensure the country's supply of cooking oil.
Joko said he chaired a meeting on how to meet the basic needs of the people, focusing on the issue of cooking oil supply in Indonesia. The meeting decided to ban the export of cooking oil and raw materials for cooking oil from May 28.
Indonesia, a producer of cooking oil and the ingredients used to make it, has been experiencing an unusual shortage of cooking oil and soaring prices for months. This phenomenon has even become one of the reasons for university student demonstrations in many parts of the country.
Due to high cooking oil prices, the Indonesian government decided in early April to distribute cash aid for cooking oil to 20.5 million households and 2.5 million street vendors selling fried food across the country.
There is a widespread belief in Indonesia that the country's edible oil market is being manipulated behind the scenes.
A few days ago, the Indonesian Supreme Prosecutor's Office named Indrasari Wisnu, director general of the Trade Ministry's foreign trade department, asa suspect in a corruption case involving the export of cooking oil raw materials. Wisnu is suspected of granting licenses to unqualified companies to export crude palm oil and its derivatives, allowing illegal traders to make huge profits by taking advantage of high international cooking oil prices, leading to a shortage of cooking oil in Indonesia. Mr. Joko called for a "thorough investigation" of cooking oil corruption.
On the same day, Joko also asked relevant departments to closely monitor market dynamics and evaluate the effect of the export ban to ensure sufficient supply and reasonable price of cooking oil in the country.