14 November 2026, Jakarta, ID: Indonesia’s Ministry of Trade cut the reference price and export duty applied to crude palm oil shipments for November, lowering the combined duty and levy burden on exporters by about 20 percent as the country presses ahead with a broader overhaul of how it governs exports of palm oil and other strategic natural resources.
Under the new November schedule, the reference export price used to calculate duties fell to 978.90 US dollars per metric ton, down 6.1 percent from 1,042.15 US dollars in October. The crude palm oil export duty itself was cut to 124 US dollars per ton from 178 US dollars, while the additional export levy, set at 12.5 percent of the reference price, declined to 122.36 US dollars per ton from 130.27 US dollars. Combined, exporters will pay 246.36 US dollars per ton in duty and levy for November shipments, down from 308.27 US dollars in October.
A wider regulatory shift
The November price adjustment is being applied as Indonesia implements Government Regulation No. 24 of 2026, which established a new export governance framework covering crude palm oil and its derivatives alongside coal and ferroalloys, three commodities the government has designated as strategic natural resources. Indonesia’s customs authority has said the regulation’s immediate practical effect is an expanded set of reporting requirements for exporters, including additional declarations tied to the country’s framework for repatriating natural resource export proceeds. A transition period for the new reporting rules runs through the end of December, with full implementation scheduled to begin on January 1, 2027.
The customs-focused rollout follows a more far-reaching announcement made by President Prabowo Subianto in May, when he told lawmakers during the presentation of the government’s 2027 macroeconomic framework that all sales of Indonesia’s natural resource products, starting with palm oil, coal and ferrous alloys, should ultimately be carried out through state-owned enterprises appointed by the government as single exporters. Prabowo framed the move as a response to what he described as tens of billions of dollars a year in losses from illegal trade practices, and cited Saudi Arabia, Russia, Malaysia and Vietnam as countries that have taken similar approaches to managing exports of strategic commodities. He did not specify a timeline for moving all palm oil export sales through state enterprises, and the scope and sequencing of that broader plan relative to the customs reporting changes taking effect under Government Regulation No. 24 has not been fully detailed in public statements since his announcement.
Indonesia is the world’s largest producer of palm oil, and changes to its export rules and cost structure are closely watched by importing countries and by edible oil and biofuel industries that rely on Indonesian supply. Lower reference prices and duties in a given month generally reflect softer international prices for crude palm oil rather than a change in domestic production volumes, and the Ministry of Trade adjusts both figures on a monthly basis using a formula tied to prevailing international price benchmarks.
The ministry’s November schedule applies specifically to crude palm oil; duty rates on refined and processed palm products are set separately and were not detailed in the November announcement. Industry groups representing palm oil producers and smallholder growers have in recent months pressed the government to consult them more closely before finalizing new export regulations, as the broader transition toward the January 2027 full implementation date continues.
Indonesia’s reference price and duty formula is reset each month using prevailing international price benchmarks for crude palm oil, so the November reduction primarily reflects softer global prices for the commodity over the preceding weeks rather than a policy decision to subsidize exporters. Even so, the direction of the adjustment matters to growers and processors because the combined duty and levy represents a direct cost on every ton shipped out of the country, cutting into the margin exporters can pass back to palm oil mills and, ultimately, to the smallholder farmers who supply a large share of Indonesia’s fresh fruit bunches.
The overlapping timelines of the November duty cut, the transition period for Government Regulation No. 24 running through year-end, and President Prabowo’s broader single-exporter proposal mean exporters are currently operating under the existing trading structure while preparing for enhanced reporting obligations due to take full effect at the start of 2027. Whether the government ultimately moves forward with routing all palm oil sales through state-owned enterprises, as Prabowo described in May, or confines the near-term changes to the reporting and customs requirements detailed by the Directorate General of Customs and Excise, is expected to become clearer as the January 2027 deadline approaches.
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