JAKARTA (Reuters) -Indonesia reaffirmed a plan to raise the mandatory palm oil content in its biodiesel to 50% starting from next year, but the programme known as B50 is unlikely to start in January, senior energy ministry official Eniya Listiani Dewi told reporters on Monday.
Indonesia currently implements a mandatory bio content of 40% (B40) and is working to increase the amount of palm oil in the blend in a bid to reduce its reliance on imported fossil fuels.
The government will carry out a number of tests for the new 50% blend, which may take up to eight months, Eniya said.
“The minister and deputy minister have set a plan for 2026 (implementation), but the month has not been decided yet,” she said, adding that they will adjust the timeline based on these technical preparations.
It was unclear when the tests will begin.
Indonesia’s plan to expand the use of palm oil for energy often affects global prices of the vegetable oil by sparking concerns that the world’s top palm oil exporter will have less to ship overseas as it tries to meet its domestic energy needs.
Indonesia has allocated 15.6 million kilolitres of palm oil fuel this year for the B40 programme, up from 13.2 million kilolitres consumed a year earlier.
B50 implementation may require up 19 million kilolitres of palm oil fuel a year, biodiesel producers group APROBI previously estimated.
(Reporting by Bernadette Christina Munthe, Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by David Stanway)
