But then, a fiasco. After the DMO and DPO policies were implemented, cooking oil vanished from the market. The Trade Ministry’s exhaustive efforts came to no avail, so it surrendered. The ministry canceled the DMO, DPO and HET policies. The cooking oil saga had entered a new chapter; prices were dictated by the market, except for bulk cooking oil, set at Rp. 14,000 per liter.
The people felt wronged and hurt by these policies. The price of packaged cooking oil was hiked to around Rp. 24,000 per liter, Rp. 10,000 higher than the last MRP. Indonesia uses around 1.5 million kiloliters of (plain and premium packaging) cooking oil annually. If the CPO price remains this steep, the people will suffer a loss of Rp. 15 trillion per year.
Meanwhile, after the Trade Ministry revoked its DMO and DPO policies, the Finance Ministry spiked the CPO export levy (and export duty) from a maximum of US$ 375 to US$ 675per ton, as stated in Finance Minister Regulation No. 23/PMK.05/ 2022 dated Mar. 17, 2022. In other words, the levy will increase by US$ 300 per ton if the CPO reference price exceeds US$ 1,500 per ton.