Last month, President Joko Widodo stated that Indonesia would no longer export crude vegetable oil, and will instead export refined products such as cosmetics, margarine
and biodiesel.
The announcement is an interlude to ongoing efforts by the country to limit the export of raw commodities in so far as a number of unprocessed ore exports have so far been banned such as nickel tin and copper.
Jokowi expressed hope that a new policy would emerge next year that will halt the export of all raw commodities.
“We really want to hit the brakes on exporting raw materials because there’s no value addition and it does not create jobs”, he said.
The new policy will serve to attract investments in onshore processing and encourage downstream activities.
