President Prabowo Subianto has alleged that a price manipulation scheme is taking place in the export of Indonesian crude palm oil (CPO) to international markets, particularly Europe.
Prabowo explained that under official domestic contracts, crude palm oil is often sold at around Rp14,000 to Rp15,000 per kilogram. However, once the shipments are en route to Europe, the contractual agreements are allegedly altered, causing the price to surge by nearly 50 percent by the time the cargo reaches its destination port.
“For example, palm oil has long been sold from Indonesia under official contracts at around Rp15,000, correct? Yes, that’s right, Minister of Agriculture. Rp15,000 per kilogram,” Prabowo said during a Plenary Cabinet Meeting at the State Palace on July 20, 2026, as broadcast on the Presidential Secretariat’s YouTube channel.
“Yet on the international market, in Europe, in Rotterdam, the price is Rp27,000. Here it’s Rp14,000 or Rp15,000, while the actual price is Rp27,000. Who is benefiting from this Rp13,000 difference? That’s nearly 50 percent. This is the kind of practice that deeply troubles us,” he added.
Prabowo stressed that altering contractual terms while export shipments are in transit constitutes fraud that directly deprives Indonesia of its natural wealth.
According to him, the practice causes the country to lose a substantial amount of potential foreign exchange earnings.
“So, a company exports palm oil from Indonesia. Here, it sells it for Rp14,000. Then, somewhere along the journey to Europe, the agreement and the contract are reportedly changed, so that by the time it arrives there, the price becomes Rp27,000. That means we lose 50 percent of our wealth. In a single shipment, we lose half of our wealth,” he said.
Narrowing the Price Gap Through DSI
Prabowo explained that, in an effort to reduce the price disparity, the government has begun implementing stricter oversight through agencies operating under the Danantara Management Agency.
According to a report he received from Danantara CEO Rosan Roeslani, enforcement measures introduced over the past one month and two weeks have already enabled the government to manage more than US$10.5 billion in foreign exchange earnings.
“I received a report from Mr. Rosan, CEO of Danantara, that after only one month and two weeks of operation, PT DSI (Danantara Sumber Daya Indonesia) has already managed more than US$10.5 billion in foreign exchange within that period,” Prabowo said.
He noted that before tighter supervision was introduced, the gap between domestic and international palm oil prices consistently ranged between 30 and 45 percent.
According to Prabowo, price trends in the domestic and global markets have now become nearly aligned.
He also warned that the government would revoke the licenses of palm oil companies that fail to comply with Indonesian law.
“Continuing this practice? This is fraud. Continue doing it? We will revoke every single license. I will make no exceptions. We will revoke the licenses of all companies that refuse to comply with the laws of the Republic of Indonesia,” he said.***
