Indonesia rethinking biodiesel policy due to $865M deficit seen for 2021

In Indonesia, Reuters reports the government is working hard to find ways to keep its biodiesel program alive in the face of ongoing cheap oil prices and rising palm oil prices. An $865 million deficit in the biodiesel program’s budget due to the increasing gap between fossil and palm oil, currently four times last year’s at $400 per metric ton in 2020. An economist deduced the government needs to either boost its levy on palm oil exports from the current $55 per metric ton, boost taxes at the pump or get palm producers to help pay for the subsidy if the program was going to continue.