mission-newenergy-limited

1 Indonesia Plans Increase in Palm Oil based Biodiesel In 2025

JAKARTA, July 24 (Reuters) - Indonesia, the world's greatest 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 stated.

If carried out, the B40 required could increase biodiesel usage to as much as 16 million kilolitres (KL) next year, the ministry stated, from 13 million KL estimated to be consumed in 2024.

"We hope the trials could be completed in December, so that complete implementation of B40 might be performed in 2025," energy ministry senior official Eniya Listiani Dewi said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Indonesian Biofuel Producers Association (APROBI) said the market had the capacity to satisfy B40 need, with installed capacity expected to rise to 20 million KL yearly next year from 18 million KL now.

"However we will require more raw products to satisfy B40 demand," Ernest Gunawan, the secretary general of APROBI told Reuters on Wednesday.

The biodiesel market would require 13.9 million metric tons of crude palm oil to produce 16 million KL biodiesel next year, from the approximated 11 million loads required this year, he added.

Indonesia's biggest palm oil association GAPKI said a decrease in exports implied there would be enough raw materials to provide the B40 mandate for now.

But the market would require to assess "which one would be more valuable", GAPKI chairman Eddy Martono said, describing the possibility an increase in exports would make supplying the domestic market less practical.

Indonesia's palm oil output is estimated to reach 54.4 million lots in 2024, a 2.26% boost from in 2015, while exports are expected to decrease by 2.47% to 29.5 million tons as domestic consumption rose, driven by biodiesel mandate.

The ministry had actually evaluated the biodiesel, blended with 40% of palm oil, on a train for the very first time earlier this week, while planning to check the B40 mix on agriculture machinery, power plants and in the shipping market, it stated. (Reporting by Bernadette Christina and Dewi Kurniawati