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Palm Oil Farmers Rally to Protest Indonesia’s Export Ban

  • Prohibition on exports fails to cool local cooking oil prices
  • Jokowi’s rating slumps to six-year low as food costs climb
Indonesian oil palm farmers' association protesters in Jakarta on May 17.

Indonesian oil palm farmers' association protesters in Jakarta on May 17.

Photographer: Mariana/AFP/Getty Images

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Hundreds of smallholders in Indonesia, the world’s biggest palm oil shipper, rallied to protest against a ban on exports of the commodity, piling pressure on President Joko Widodo to scrap the policy. 

Farmers said their income is suffering because prices of fresh fruit bunches have plummeted on concern that the country won’t have enough storage capacity to hold the pent-up supply. At least 120 farmers attended the rally, and as many as 250 from across the archipelago are expected to turn up, said Gulat Manurung, chairman of the Indonesian Oil Palm Farmers Association.