Palm oil, the surge in prices is shaking Indonesia. But the stop on exports damages Jakarta’s accounts

BANGKOK – Although judged by environmentalists to be “ecologically unsustainable”, palm oil in times of war has become a popular genre both in the food and cosmetics sectors, as well as as a so-called “bio” fuel. By continuing to rise up to five times, its price is triggering a domino effect in the economies of several client and producer countries.

Indonesia, which is the first supplier covering a third of the rich 50 billion dollar market, has enacted a ban on the sale abroad of the product both refined and in the form of “olein” or “crude”, used for many products , from snacks to Nutella, beauty creams and soaps.