The position of Indonesia’s palm oil in the vegetable oil international market

Abstract The increase in global crude oil prices and awareness of energy sustainability are driving the development of the biofuel industry. Palm oil has high productivity and competitive prices compared to other vegetable oils, encouraging competition among major palm oil exporters and significant vegetable oils. The research examines factors influencing Indonesia’s position in the global vegetable oil competition and assesses how economic shocks impact Indonesian palm oil competitiveness. This study utilized the Almost Ideal Demand System model on secondary data in the time series period of 1990-2022. The research results showed that the increase in global income is the most influential factor in the rise in the market share of Indonesian palm oil. The increase in crude oil prices favored the position of Indonesian palm oil compared to Malaysia. Fluctuations in Malaysian palm oil prices could affect the competitiveness of Indonesian palm oil. Malaysia’s palm oil, soybean oil, and sunflower oil are more complementary than Indonesia’s. Indonesia needs to collaborate with significant vegetable oil exporters, to create a palm oil commodity exchange, and to synchronize policies from upstream to downstream to ensure the fulfillment of domestic and export palm oil needs.