Indonesia seeks to balance international, local palm oil demand: official

Small-scale farmers were badly impacted by the export ban with mills buying palm oil fresh fruits at roughly half the price set by the regional government and even below production costs. - Reuters

JAKARTA (Reuters): Indonesia is seeking a balance between capitalising on high global palm oil prices while ensuring food at home is affordable, a senior government official said on Wednesday (May 11), amid the country's ongoing ban on exports of the vegetable oil.

The South-East Asian nation, the world's top palm oil producer, has since April 28 halted exports of crude palm oil and refined products in order to control soaring prices of cooking oil at home.