Jakarta (Indonesia Window) - Indonesia's palm oil industry is indeed being challenged by negative campaigns from European Union countries that refuse the development of the industry as they consider it is threatening the environment.

However, Indonesia's unstoppable efforts to develop a sustainable palm oil industry under the principles of nature conservation that have drawn Peru's attention to learn more from Indonesia.

In a meeting with Indonesia’s Ambassador to Peru Marina Estella Anwar Bey in Pucallpa, Peru, on Thursday (December 19), Peruvian National Palm Oil Board (JUNPALMA) Chief Manager Gregorio Saenz said his country wanted to learn how to develop the palm oil industry from Indonesia.

Peru has learned that the palm oil industry in Indonesia is very advanced.

Not only is palm oil used as a food mixture, but also as an ingredient for cosmetics, soap, and biodiesel, whereas Peru has so far only produced crude palm oil (CPO) products and sold them to food companies including Alicorp S.A.

To explore possible cooperation between Indonesia and Peru in the palm oil industry, Ambassador Marina has visited Ucayali in Peru to meet with the palm oil association in the province, COCEPU and the largest palm oil company in Ucayali, OLAMSA.

In addition, the ambassador also visited palm oil plantations in Ucayali and palm oil mills owned by OLAMSA.

Ucayali is one of four palm oil producing provinces in Peru. The other provinces are San Martin, Loreto and Huanaco.

At present, Ucayali is the largest palm oil producer in Peru with a production volume of 200 thousand tons of CPO. Some 300 thousand tons of the commodity are produced in the South American country annually.

The company that processes and manages the industry is OLAMSA, which was established by COCEPU oil palm farmers with independent investment.

OLAMSA's Chief Manager Nilo Demetrio said that there are eight palm oil mills in Peru, and two of which are OLAMSA's located in Ucayali.

Olamsa's production capacity is around 24-30 tons per hour. The processed palm oil comes from around 1,300 oil palm farmers associated with COCEPU and Ucayali’s independent farmers who use the equipment from Malaysia.

Ambassador Marina welcomed positively the wishes of JUNPALMA, COCEPU and OLAMSA that want to work with Indonesia in the development of the palm oil industry.

Indonesian companies are expected to visit Peru and see business and investment opportunities that can be developed together.

The ambassador also invited Peruvian parties to visit Indonesia to see first-hand information on the palm oil industry in the country.

Reporting by Indonesia Window