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The EU's General Court has upheld steep anti-dumping duties of up to 46.4% on Indonesian palm oil imports, rejecting all legal challenges brought by major producers.
In two separate rulings handed down on Wednesday, the Luxembourg-based court backed the European Commission's decision to impose high duties on imports of "fatty acids" from Indonesia, dismissing arguments from three Indonesian companies that had challenged the legality and calculation of the duties.
Musim Mas, part of the Singapore-based Musim Mas Group and one of Indonesia's largest palm oil producers, had been facing a 46.4% duty. The court rejected all of the legal arguments put forward by the company.
Two other companies, Permata Hijau Palm Oleo and Nubika Jaya, also lost their separate cases, with duties of 26.6% imposed on them.
Although the Coalition Against Unfair Trading in Fatty Acids withdrew its complaint in August 2022, the European Commission decided to press ahead with the investigation—a move Musim Mas challenged as unlawful. However, the court upheld the Commission's authority to continue the investigation even after the complaint had been withdrawn.
The court confirmed that the Commission retains the right to continue proceedings even if the European industry withdraws its support for the case.
The court also dismissed Musim Mas's claim that imposing the duties was not in the EU's interest, noting that the Commission had demonstrated the duties were aimed at combating unfair trading practices and restoring fair competition.
Likewise, the court rejected the company's objection to the method used to calculate "normal value." Musim Mas had argued that the Commission applied unjustifiably high profit margins (35.32% and 91.24%), but the court found these margins stemmed from the company's own pricing policies within Indonesia and were therefore lawful.
On the objection concerning currency exchange rates, the court ruled that this claim could not be raised for the first time during litigation, noting that Musim Mas had not raised the point at earlier stages of the investigation.
In its final ruling, the court dismissed the case in its entirety and ordered the Indonesian companies to bear the litigation costs in favour of the European Commission.
The ruling grants the European Commission stronger powers to pursue anti-dumping measures, even when complaints are withdrawn by the European industry. It also keeps in place the current duties on fatty acid imports from Indonesia, and underscores ongoing tensions between the EU and Southeast Asian nations over trade and environmental sustainability issues.
The EU has been closely monitoring palm oil imports over deforestation concerns, while both Indonesia and Malaysia consider such restrictions unfair. Indonesia has already filed complaints against the EU at the World Trade Organization, and the WTO's dispute panel issued a report in January 2025 on a related case.
Indonesia is the EU's fifth-largest trading partner within ASEAN, with bilateral trade reaching around €27.3 billion (US$29.5 billion) in 2024, comprising €17.5 billion in EU imports from Indonesia and €9.7 billion in EU exports.
Palm oil and its derivatives represent a multi-billion-dollar global trade, with Indonesia being the world's largest producer of the commodity, which is used in food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical products.
Anti-dumping duties were first imposed in January 2023 after an investigation found that surging Indonesian imports had caused losses to the EU industry, with duties ranging from 15.2% to 46.4%.
It is worth noting that Musim Mas markets itself as a sustainability leader, having become the first company in Indonesia to obtain RSPO global sustainability certification back in 2004.
The Indonesian companies still have the option to appeal to the European Court of Justice within two months.