Chairman of Gapki Joko Supriyono in Jakarta, Thursday said that palm oil (CPO) production is sufficient for increasing the CPO content of biofuel (B30) product.
"The key is not in raw materials, but in market absorption," he said in response to President Joko Widodo`s request that the mix of palm oil in biodiesel be increased from 20 percent to 30 percent.
Earlier, Minister of Industry Airlangga Hartarto, after a limited meeting with the president and other ministers, said President Joko Widodo requested a mixed increase of palm oil in biodiesel from 20 percent to 30 percent
"Another thing that the president conveyed related to biodiesel 20 percent is his request that the use of B20 to B30 should be studied," said Airlangga, Monday.
According to Joko Supriyono, so far the absorption of biodiesel is relatively dependent on the transportation sector. Thanks to the mandatory biodiesel rule of 20 percent (B20) that has been applied to fuels (BBM), the absorption of vegetable oil commodities is much focused in the vehicle sector.
"So with the addition of the 30 percent portions, automatic biodiesel market will increase," he said.
Previously, the Indonesian Biofuel Producers Association (Aprobi) stated that it supports President Joko Widodo who wants to increase biodiesel in order to overcome the global economic pressure.
"We support the direction of the President and the Minister of Industry to better use Biodiesel to reduce fuel imports as well as our foreign exchange savings," said Aprobi, Chief Executive Paulus Tjakrawan when contacted by Antara in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Aprobi estimates domestic biodiesel absorption to reach 3.5 million kiloliters (kl). The details of 2.8 million kl-3 million kl are for Public Service Obligation (PSO) while 500,000 kl will be absorbed for non-PSO needs.
With the use of B30 replacing B20, the consumption of biodiesel is expected to increase by 500,000 tons per year. This year Aprobi targets biodiesel production to reach 3.5 million kiloliters. Whereas the actual production capacity can reach up to 11 million tons.
Reported by Subagyo
(A014/S012)
(T.SYS/B/KR-BSR/S012)
Reporter: antara
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
