Govt Seeks New Palm Oil Market in Middle East

THE government is forcing to seek new market to support palm oil industry. One of the target is middle east region that was currently visited by senior officials from Trade Ministry. As visited Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Thursday (29/11/2018), Director General of National Export Development at Trade Ministry Arlinda said that seeking new market is deemed necessary given the fact that palm oil is threatened by the European Union (EU). “Especially for palm oil, as we are threatened in the EU market, we are eyeing other market a part from our traditional market,” Arlinda said as quoted by Antara. She believed that palm oil market could be shifted to nontraditional markets in other part of the world. “We can focus to countries around Persian Gulf such as Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar,” Arlinda said. She also said that politic crisis between some countries, like Qatar, and other Arab countries may open opportunity for Indonesian products to enter. Because, countries that is being boycotted by Saudi Arabia such as Qatar needs other trade sources. A part from focusing to Middle East and other South Asian countries like India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, the government is also seeking new palm oil market in Americas such as Chili. Besides, countries in Eurasia, like Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, are also being targeted. ***