Indonesia plans palm oil industrial zone

BALI: Indonesia wants to set up a palm oil industrial zone (POIZ) to develop a more sustainable downstream industry under the recently-inked Council of Oil Producing Countries (CPOPC) with Malaysia.

This industrial zone is aimed at promoting cooperation and investment into a sustainable and environmentally-friendly palm oil industry.

Under the concept, which is still being discussed by both countries, all raw materials must be certified as sustainable and traceable, and the products must be environmentally-friendly.

Indonesia’s Ministry of Industry deputy director Sri Hadisetyana said all the materials, processes and products under this concept would be environmentally-friendly, with minimal waste and efficient use of energy.

“The planned locations for the POIZ are in Sumatera, close to the Straits of Malacca, and in Kalimantan, close to the straits of Sulawesi, as the international shipping routes.

“The minimum land requirement would be 1,000ha. Malaysia and Indonesia will be coming up with a blueprint on the POIZ,” she said during a session on the Indonesian downstream industry at the Indonesian Palm Oil Conference here yesterday.

Indonesia, she said, was very committed to developing downstream palm oil products and processes, and to strengthen investments in the industry.

“The development of a world-class industrial estate is dependant on the availability of infrastructure, particularly logistics facilities, to create a competitive downstream industry,” she said.

The initial products to be developed in this zone would be specialty chemicals, next-generation biofuel, and higher nutrition food additives.