Indonesia's CPO output seen down due to El Nino

• Source: Xinhua
• [09:53 July 23 2009]
• Comments

The impact of El Nino pattern may reduce Indonesia's crude palm oil (CPO) production by 15 to 20 percent of initial target of 23.2 million tons next year, local media reported on Wednesday.

Achmad Mangga Barani, Agriculture Ministry's director general of plantations, was quoted by the Jakartaglobe daily as saying that the full effect of El Nino was unlikely to be felt this year, as the drought would most hurt crops that were not yet mature.

"El Nino will impact our CPO output, as plantations may suffer droughts and the weather will be drier,"Mangga said, adding"as a result, output could be 15 or 20 percent below the output target."

To minimize losses, he called on oil palm farmers to improve irrigation and increase fertilizer use at their plantations.

 Over 17.5 million tons of crude palm oil were produced in 2008, and the Agriculture Ministry expects that CPO production will rise to 20 million tons this year. It aims to achieve 40 million tons of output by 2020 on a total plantation area of 10 million hectares.

 Mangga said the nation's oil palm plantations may increase to 8. 1 million hectares next year from 7.7 million hectares currently, and he estimated that productivity would rise to 3.72 tons per hectare from 3.69 tons this year.

 "We urged growers to increase the use of fertilizer and improve drainage systems to minimize the impact of the El Nino,"he said.

 El Nino weather patterns, which are caused by a warming of the eastern Pacific Ocean, can cause droughts in some parts of the Asian region.

 Indonesia is the world largest palm oil producer, followed by Malaysia.