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Indonesia's government has issued new regulations restricting exports of used cooking oil and palm oil waste products, aiming to ensure adequate supplies for the domestic market, Reuters reported.
The government said in a statement that the move is intended to support a new mandate that took effect this year requiring a 40% blend of palm oil-based fuel with diesel (B40), up from the previous 35% mandate.
The new regulations, which took effect immediately, require all exporters of used cooking oil and palm oil waste products, including palm oil mill effluent (POME), to obtain an export allocation from the government.
While Indonesian authorities had been considering ways to curb used cooking oil exports for some time, the scope of the potential restrictions had remained unclear, according to a report published on 8 January 2026.
In December, an official pointed to media reports suggesting that some cooking oil sold under a government programme called "Minyakita" had been mislabelled as used cooking oil and exported abroad as feedstock for biofuel production.
Indonesia requires all crude palm oil exporters to sell a portion of their output domestically at a capped price for use in producing "Minyakita" cooking oil, which is then sold at regulated, affordable prices.
Reports have indicated that government officials have repeatedly flagged signs of shortages in the "Minyakita" product, with some retailers selling it at prices roughly 10% above the government-set maximum retail price, Reuters wrote.
According to data from Indonesia's statistics agency, the country's exports of used cooking oil and palm oil waste products totalled 3.95 million tonnes between January and November 2024, down 13.75% compared with the same period the previous year.
Source: Reuters