Indonesia has formed a new task force, led by Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan as chairman of the Steering Committee, to improve governance in the palm oil plantation sector, aiming to ensure that companies comply with rules, including on tax payments. The establishment followed an industry-wide audit that officials launched last year after a scarcity of cooking oil at home led to the suspension of exports of some palm oil products for three weeks, shocking the global vegetable oil market. Deputy Finance Minister Suahasil Nazara, who heads the task force’s Implementation Committee, said on Monday (17/4), that authorities intended to “improve our palm oil industry’s compliance on various rules, regarding land permits, and on payments to the state”. [NOTE: In practice, Minister Pandjaitan will direct the implementation/field team led by the Deputy Finance Minister Nazara]. The ministry’s Directorate-General of Tax is currently updating its data on companies’ plantation areas. During the first stage of last year’s audit, Indonesia found that 16.8 million hectares of its land were planted with oil palm, more than the 16.38 million hectares recorded in the official database, according to Coordinating Minister Luhut Pandjaitan. Indonesia is the world’s biggest producer and exporter of palm oil. According to Statistics Indonesia, the country’s palm oil exports in the first three months of 2023 totaled USD 5.92 billion, down 11.3% from the same period in 2022, partly due to falling prices. (ICE GIACARTA)

Fonte notizia: Reuters - 17 April 2023