JAKARTA, July 24 (Reuters) - Indonesia, the world's greatest palm oil manufacturer, is testing fuel with a view to increasing to 40% from 35% the share of palm-oil combined into biodiesel next year, the energy ministry stated.
If carried out, the B40 required might increase biodiesel usage to as much as 16 million kilolitres (KL) next year, the ministry stated, from 13 million KL estimated to be consumed in 2024.
"We hope the trials could be ended up in December, so that complete implementation of B40 could be performed in 2025," energy ministry senior main Eniya Listiani Dewi stated in a statement on Tuesday.
The Indonesian Biofuel Producers Association (APROBI) stated the industry had the capacity to fulfill B40 need, with installed capacity anticipated to increase to 20 million KL annually next year from 18 million KL now.
"However we will need more basic materials to meet B40 need," Ernest Gunawan, the secretary general of APROBI informed Reuters on Wednesday.
The biodiesel industry would require 13.9 million metric lots of crude palm oil to produce 16 million KL biodiesel next year, from the approximated 11 million tons required this year, he added.
Indonesia's greatest palm oil association GAPKI stated a decrease in exports meant there would suffice basic materials to supply the B40 mandate for now.
But the market would require to examine "which one would be more important", GAPKI chairman Eddy Martono said, describing the possibility an increase in exports would make supplying the domestic market less practical.
Indonesia's palm oil output is estimated to reach 54.4 million loads in 2024, a 2.26% increase from last year, while exports are expected to decrease by 2.47% to 29.5 million loads as domestic usage rose, driven by biodiesel required.
The ministry had actually checked the biodiesel, combined with 40% of palm oil, on a train for the very first time previously today, while planning to test the B40 mix on agriculture machinery, power plants and in the shipping market, it stated. (Reporting by Bernadette Christina and Dewi Kurniawati; Writing by Stanley Widianto; Editing by John Mair, Savio D'Souza and Barbara Lewis)
