Plantations & Agriculture

Long a major exporter of raw natural resources, including agricultural products, Indonesia is looking to maintain its strengths in this sector while expanding downstream industries to fuel domestic industry. The country imports over 20m tonnes of food annually, but major investment plans are designed to mitigate the need for imports by boosting domestic output. Indonesia’s strengths are manifested in its palm oil sector, which was forecast to produce 23.5m tonnes for 2011, a world-leading total. One controversy arose in 2011 when the export tax on refined palm oil was decreased to nearly half that of CPO, which should boost downstream processing but may eat into upstream profits. This section features an interview with Franky Widjaja, Vice-Chairman for Agribusiness, Food and Livestock, Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN).