Khor Reports' Talking Series: Malaysia Renewable Energy

Khor Reports' Talking Series

TALKING Malaysia renewable energy

11 Nov 2019

Q&A with Ir. Krishna Moorthy P., P.Eng., MECC Engineering Sdn Bhd. 

With a data-info addendum by Khor Reports

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(11 Nov 2019) Edit : Calculations in the footnote (5) has been edited for the announcement in October 2019; the relevant news article link has been added into the data-info addendum. It states “Malaysia’s transition into a higher RE mix by 2025 is estimated to contribute to over 100,000 in employment opportunities, of which 39% will be in mini hydro, biomass (28%) and biogas (11%). Rooftop solar and large scale solar will make up about 22% of the projected employment figure.”

Q. What has shifted in Malaysia's Renewable Energy (RE) policy under the new Pakatan Harapan administration? 

The previous Barisan Nasional (BN) government’s “National RE Policy and Action Plan” attempted to increase renewable energy (RE) through electricity generation using biomass, biogas, small hydro and municipal solid waste or MSW to its maximum potential of 16,000 GWh per annum. That is, approximately 11% RE in the energy mix of electricity supply sector by the year 2028 and thereafter continue with the ramp up of solar-PV (photovoltaic). There are many good reasons for this approach, that does not over emphasise solar-PV.

In contrast, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration’s RE policy appears to prioritise solar-PV to achieve a higher (headline) target share of RE mix of 20% by 2025 in Malaysia’s electricity supply sector. Malaysia’s current usage of RE resources for electricity production is minimal so far (see green “others” category in Malaysia electricity generation mix chart, immediately below). The 2010 plan for Malaysia RE (refer to the next chart) placed solar-PV in the backseat within the RE segment until 2030-2050. 

Malaysia electricity generation mix

Source: Malaysia Energy Statistics 2018. Note: Renewable energy sources here are counted under “others” (green) and stands at about 0.6% of the total. Hydro (purple) is large scale and not counted as a RE resource. (1)

Malaysia planned RE electricity generation sources

Source: Annual electricity production from RE resources in Malaysia’s National Renewable Energy Policy and Action Plan (2010). Note: This placed solar-PV in the backseat until 2030-2050.

To achieve its RE commitments, the PH government has announced its plan for an additional 3,991 MW of electricity generation capacity (with details on solar-PV and other RE resources pending) for the Malaysian electricity system.

It is notable that, similar to BN’s policy, PH’s RE policy has only considered RE mix in the electricity supply sector. It has yet to consider RE in the total national energy supply. RE in other energy sectors such as industrial heating and transport to mitigate their significant fossil fuel usage, has not featured in Malaysia policy (2) to date.  

Q. Malaysia has large scale hydropower units, with many underpinning the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy. Why are these not part of the RE figures?

In Malaysia, the Renewable Energy Act 2011 defines the various renewable energy resources, indicating for each technology the power capacity limits for incentivised development. 

Small hydroelectric plants (mini-hydro; defined as not more than 30MW) are oftentimes not profitable without incentives. Feed-in-tariffs and carbon credits make these projects profitable. Large hydro is not included in the incentivised RE development program as they are usually profitable and have a larger environmental impact than smaller hydro projects. Electricity generated at palm oil mills for self-consumption in business-as-usual scenarios are not included in the Act. Providing incentives for large-scale hydro and palm oil mills (for self-consumption) through feed-in-tariffs and carbon credits schemes may not achieve economically-efficient climate benefits.

Further, mini-hydro plant technology is based on run-of-the-river systems; thus, there is little or no dam on site. This decreases the negative effects versus large hydropower plants that require flooding of (arable) land and disturbances in the temperature and composition of the river water with some negative ecological effects.

The PH administration is attempting to raise the generation capacity limit on small hydro for RE accounting to 100 MW from the 30 MW defined in the Act.

 Q. Is PH’s apparent large scale solar push going to deliver a 20% energy mix? 

The simple answer is NO. The new policy is dominated upfront by large scale solar-PV (LSS-PV). This is unusual and raises several questions about viability.

The total electricity generation in 2017 was about 162,000 GWh. To meet the target RE ratio within the energy mix in the electricity supply sector, we would need an estimated 32,400 GWh per annum from RE sources. However, if the planned additional generation capacity is predominantly made up of solar-PV, this can only actually contribute meagerly to RE output. 

Solar-PV’s has an intrinsically low energy output. Against installed capacity, it is less than 16% in Malaysia. This is because it is in production equivalent to less than 1,400 hours per annum or just over 58 days in a full year. 

Solar-PV energy depends upon the vicissitudes of weather (ed: also look at Malaysia’s location in southern ASEAN, a high cloud cover region (3)) and time of day (none at night). It suffers from what is called (a very) “low capacity factor” and high intermittency (irregular output) in comparison with other electricity generation sources, resulting in a relatively low electricity generation rate (ed: see the list below which corresponds with electricity generation rates in a study for Indonesia RE(4)).

The planned additional generation capacity by the PH administration is 3,991 MW (announced last year) and on 15 Nov 2018 an expected cost of RM33 billion for 20% RE was announced, but without much details). If reliant on LSS-PV, this could provide about 5,500 GWh of electricity. Due to the low capacity factor, a 3,991 MW RE (capacity) based on solar-PV can only deliver an added RE of 3.4% in energy output terms.

Thus, it is expected that solar-PV would be balanced with an equal focus on other sources of RE. These have high capacity factors (or electricity generation rates), particularly oil palm biomass. This is needed to meet the overall target. For instance, a generation capacity factor of 92% (close to that of utility power stations), offers a generation equivalent of more than 8,000 hours per annum or about 333 days in a year. 

Besides the low capacity factor, any increase in solar-PV generation capacity beyond about 3,000 MW imposes technical limitations due to its intermittency in maintaining stability of the Peninsular Malaysia electricity system at the present load profile in Malaysia.

 Comparative generation capacity (utilisation) factors for various renewable resources:

• utility power stations with redundant machines              100 %

• small-scale biomass                                                            70 %

• small-scale biogas                                                               70 %

• large scale solar-PV or LSS-PV                                            16 %

• rooftop solar-PV                                                          14 %

Therefore, to meet RE targets, Malaysia will need to supplement RE generation through a ramp up of generation utilising biomass, biogas, small hydro and municipal solid waste (ed: refer to the Indonesia case, where solar may be only 1/5th of the RE segment (6)).  

The PH political alliance gave hope for environmental and energy security when their election manifesto declared a focus on green technology development, renewable energy and a promise to reduce CO2 emissions. 

To achieve these objectives, the manifesto promised to develop technologies to increase the RE mix in Malaysia’s energy supply to 20% by the year 2025. But we seem uncertain about that promise. We are at 0.6 % RE in 2018 and an LSS drive would add about 3.4% to the electricity supply sector by 2025. PH has yet to publish a roadmap on its strategies and action plans to realise the target of 20% RE (5) in the total national energy supply (its election promise). PH’s RE policy and roadmap requires robust planning and implementation.

Q. How is LSS usually positioned against coal, gas, RE and other sources? 

LSS-PV can only provide a limited fraction of RE to the total electricity load demand due to its intrinsic intermittency characteristic. For want of utility-scale energy storage facilities, deployment of LSS-PV would need large hydro or quick-response gas turbine generators to balance supply to demand for frequency regulation, i.e. LSS-PV behaviour requires other power plants to operate in ways that may be difficult or even impossible. 

Furthermore, additional capital investment would be required to reinforce or modify the existing electricity network to handle two-way power flows due to its intermittency. Therefore, one needs to consider the LSS-PV generation cost benefit in the context of the generation system as a whole. Deployment of LSS-PV will be challenging at above 3,000 MW capacity (2.2% RE) at the present load profile in Peninsular Malaysia.

There are environmental issues too. Consider the potential loss of open space, agricultural land and biological habitat. Many countries do not allow RE to be situated on agricultural land. The LSS-PV competitive tenders are already causing encroachment and loss of natural forest to locate these plants near designated points of RE injection that are situated close to forest lands. 

Q. What materials does Malaysia have a natural advantage and energy security with? 

A large resource for RE generation in Malaysia is the excessive amounts of biomass residue from the palm oil sector. There is mesocarp fibre and palm kernel shell that is often needlessly burnt in the boiler of palm oil mills, in a very inefficient manner, to self-power the mills.  Energy efficiency improvement at the mills would release large amounts of surplus biomass. This can potentially displace about 22,000 GWh (13.5% of energy mix) of fossil fuel electricity annually in Malaysia. The surplus biomass could also fuel on-site combined heat and power (CHP) systems to provide heat for industrial heating besides electricity generation at high energy-efficiencies.

It would augur well for the RE industry to give high priority to energy efficiency of the palm oil mills and thereby save large amounts of the mesocarp fibre and palm kernel shell (which are process wastes) as renewable resources, and this would also reduce emissions and improve the environmental sustainability of the palm oil industry.

The above potential does not include empty fruit bunches or EFB at the palm oil mills and other agricultural wastes, e.g. palm trunks, paddy husk, timber wastes and others, that could provide for further RE generation.

Q. Why does the potential of palm biomass remain relatively untapped?

The RE industry has had several bad experiences with failed biomass plants in the early period of RE promotion by the government. These failed plants had all used empty fruit bunches (EFB) as fuel and had adopted inappropriate designs without understanding the combustion characteristics of the EFB and the economics of RE generation. As a result, they were plagued by unreliable operation, low generation efficiencies, large transportation costs and a lack of fuel feedstock. 

Due to these unaddressed technical problems, the RE industry has convinced Malaysian politicians and bureaucrats of the need to support high (subsidised) feed-in-tariff or FiT rates to justify investment. This is so much so that there is a misconception that oil palm biomass RE is not competitive with other renewable resources and that the take-off of RE will be limited by lack of fuel feedstock.

For a long time, the RE industry has only considered EFB biomass residue available at the mills. This has been understood (wrongly) as being synonymous with biomass in the oil palm industry. The channelling of needless amounts of other biomass residue into boiler furnaces is ongoing and obscured. As a result, the industry does not focus on the more sustainable RE resources of the mesocarp fibre and palm kernel shells (ed: these are in demand from North Asia RE buyers) at the mills.

The government could do well in bringing to the attention of the industry the vast potential for improving energy efficiency of the mills to release large amounts of surplus biomass, and then use it to generate RE. The government needs to alleviate the commonly held misconception that RE cannot take off because of alleged lack of suitable fuel feedstock. A full-scale demonstration plant to deliver this potential (ed: the author has developed such a design) is required to spearhead the revolution. This would truly initiate a paradigm shift.

Krishna is an energy efficiency and renewable energy expert for palm oil mills and a project engineer at Tenaga Nasional Berhad in the earlier part of his career. With an in-depth knowledge of energy efficiency and tapping renewable resources, he offers valuable insight into relationships between renewable energy and distributed generation performance and economic expectations. This expertise may prove helpful in turning environmental challenges into economic solutions.

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Data-info addendum by Khor Reports, 11 Nov 2019

A. High cloud cover (over 60-70%) in the tropical belt including southern ASEAN gives the region a lower potential power from photovoltaic than northern ASEAN. 

Source: Nasa Earth Observations

Cloud Fraction, February 2000 to September 2019, NASA (2019). Note: These maps show what fraction of an area was cloudy on average each month. The measurements were collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite. Colors range from blue (no clouds) to white (totally cloudy). Like a digital camera, MODIS collects information in gridded boxes, or pixels. Cloud fraction is the portion of each pixel that is covered by clouds. Colors range from blue (no clouds) to white (totally cloudy).

Comment: Lower cloud cover (darker-darkest blue, upper map) is closely linked to higher photovoltaic or PV power potential (red-dark orange, lower map) and higher cloud cover (white-light blues) is closely linked to lower PV power potential (yellow in tropical belt lower latitudes and light-green violets in high latitudes)

Global spatial distribution of the average cloud cover of Sentinel-2A and Sentinel-2B Level-1C scenes acquired in the year 2017, Sudmanns et al. (2019).

B. Photovoltaic power potential (7) for Malaysia (and the rest of southern ASEAN) is significantly below the global average in a 730-2337 kWh/KWp range.

C. Cost and utilisation rates, plus policy comparative context for Indonesia. A 2019 study puts solar at just over 1/5th of the RE category, in a “RE medium” scenario with 31% RE for 2027F. 

It is instructive to look at Indonesia as a comparative case study. Liebman et al. (2019) (8) analyses an "RE medium" scenario for Indonesia for 31% RE by 2027, comprising 11% geothermal, 8% hydro, 7% solar and 5% wind. Thus, solar could be just over 20% of their RE category. It appears that many planners add solar-PV build up at a later stage once more steady and higher utilisation rate RE sources have built up. Interestingly, the study does not include biogas and biomass as major contributors to RE. Perhaps the various costs are a significant factor, together with there being a less established base of technology, implementation and expertise in the region? To be sure, the ramp up in solar-PV equipment production by China state-owned enterprises (including in Malaysia to make it a top 3 production base origin) has offered comfort to those buying these systems, and solar-PV implementation seems like an easy thing to gun for, but has to be considered against its technical limitations. 

D. Malaysia’s transition into higher RE mix by 2025 (9)

Malaysia’s transition into a higher RE mix by 2025 is estimated to contribute to over 100,000 in employment opportunities, of which 39% will be in mini hydro, biomass (28%) and biogas (11%).

Rooftop solar and large scale solar will make up about 22% of the projected employment figure.

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Footnotes

1. Ed: Under the 2010 plan, there should be 4,000 MW of RE cumulative capacity by 2030F for cumulative avoided CO2 avoided of 145.1 mt. End 2011, there was 65MW of installed capacity mostly from biomass plants in Sabah, the Sustainable Energy Development Authority / SEDA reported.

2. Ed: The push for B20 palm biodiesel seems more to do with absorbing more palm oil domestically, amidst angst about Malaysia exports of palm oil (and its competition for markets with Indonesia and other palm producers).

3. Look at “Data-info addendum by Khor Reports, 11 Nov 2019”.

4. Look at “Data-info addendum by Khor Reports, 11 Nov 2019”.

5. Ed: Based on the announcement in Oct 2019, RM33,000 million, would be USD 7,951.81 million (at USD/MYR 4.15). If that is associated with 6,900.00 MW, that is 1,152.44 USD per kW equivalent.

6. Look at “Data-info addendum by Khor Reports, 11 Nov 2019”.

7. https://solargis.com/maps-and-gis-data/download/asia

8. http://iesr.or.id/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/COMS-PUB-0021_A-Roadmap-for-Indonesia_s-Power-Sector.pdf

9. https://themalaysianreserve.com/2019/10/11/re-goals-to-attract-rm33b-in-private-investments/

Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Waste Plastic Imports to Malaysia

In early 2018, China stopped accepting plastic waste from the world. This caused increased imports to developing countries, that did not have the capabilities to manage the voluminous waste. Most of the plastic waste were redirected to Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia. 

We take a deep dive into the Malaysian situation. There was an influx of waste plastics imports in 2018 and a subsequent decrease in late 2018, as it banned contaminated plastic waste in October 2018, in an effort to restrict the overflowing supply of waste plastics. More recently, monthly plastic waste imports began to increase. The Pakatan Harapan administration has also highlighted plans to build at least one incinerator in each state (it has thirteen), and there is concern this may again open the flood gate for imports.

Not surprisingly, the surging waste plastics business has triggered other issues. These include illegal recycling factories, waste dumping sites, and open burning. Khor Reports has consolidated data on waste plastics issues in a dashboard, with information compiled from media reports. This provides an overall view of plastic waste imports and the concerns it has raised for the Malaysian people. The data is as at 27 September 2019, collected by a group of volunteers over a period of about two weeks.

As China eschews the trade in plastic waste, Malaysia and its Southeast Asian counterparts have reported that they are overwhelmed by this material. Waste plastics often have three fates: recycling, incineration, or disposal in a landfill. The surge of imports and the lack of capability and capacity in these segments led to unscrupulous practices widely reported in the media. 

Illegal recycling factories are operating in the dark. There are multiple news reports of public upset over eye, throat, and breathing discomfort from toxic fumes produced from the open burning of plastics (often at night). A recent news report for Sungai Petani (in the northern state of Kedah) reported an illegal plastic recycling factory ramping up production during the southern ASEAN peat fire driven haze-smog, to try to mask its noxious output. More recently, a team of Canadian journalists went undercover. In the guise of selling waste to illegal recycling factories in Malaysia, they discovered large amounts of plastics dumped in landfills and rivers and that they are also being burned in the open. 

Illegal waste dumping sites can pose a human health risk due to the open burning of plastics. Studies have shown that burning plastics contain chlorine, emit dioxins, and furans. These are highly toxic and persistent environmental pollutants. Media accounts point to an area in the Kuala Muda district (of Kedah) where air pollution levels were “very unhealthy,” blaming roughly 50 illegal recycling factories burning plastic waste in their compounds.

Amidst the growing concerns, some have viewed the ban on plastic waste imports to China as a big business opportunity. A report by Greenpeace Malaysia and Kuala Langat Environmental Protection Association (Selangor) highlighted that Malaysia imported 754,000 tonnes of plastic valued at Ringgit Malaysia 483 million between January and July of 2018. A potential way to combat the issue of plastic waste could be for organisations and individuals to move towards a circular economy and prioritise the reduction of plastic waste. 

More details are available on a customised basis; including additional data fields. Please contact us to find out more.

Maps and datasets were assisted by Nadirah Sharif and Loh Rachel of Khor Reports, and our amazing volunteers: Chaleena Suvanpratum, Clara Oi Ai Leen, H. Cyrene Surupi Perera, Eunice Su Hui Siew, Goh Paul Mae, Ruth Ng Wern Ai, and Vincent Loh Xue Yan.

#PlasticPollution #WastePlastics #PlasticImports #Malaysia

(c) Khor Reports - Segi Enam Advisors Pte Ltd. 2019. All rights reserved.

The Haze: And the Flames Went Higher?

A few weeks ago the infamous haze plaguing Southeast Asia lifted. The question is whether the haze this year was as bad as the big one in 2015.

Intriguingly, while the overall count of fire alerts in 2019 is lower compared to 2015, observers have remarked on the higher intensity in some areas. Fires have also been appearing in different locations this year, surprising many planters. 

Global Forest Watch reported that 43% of fire alerts between June 2019 and late September 2019 for Indonesia were recorded on peatlands.

Looking at the Kalimantan region, the MODIS alerts (high intensity fires relate to high or 95% confidence (red points), are on peatlands (black shaded areas), particularly in the southern areas.

There are large oil palm and mills zones and areas are affected by alerts. So far Indonesia authorities have a fire law enforcement list of 10.000 hectares, Indonesia wide.

Many fire alerts are also happening outside concession areas and on designated protected lands of Kalimantan (green shaded areas), which is also a great cause for concern.

#Haze #Haze2019 #SoutheastAsia #Indonesia #Kalimantan 

(c) Khor Reports - Segi Enam Advisors Pte Ltd. 2019. All rights reserved.

Durians for China: A Preliminary View and Dashboard

Recent protocols allow frozen whole durians to be exported to China, home to the fanatics of the King of Fruit. In the past, only frozen durian pulp and purée were imported. Trade regulations are strict. 

With a surge in interest for Malaysia's famed stinky fruit, suppliers of durian in Malaysia are responding to the spike in durian prices with production and processing for export related activities. For example, durian tourism (orchard tours and farm stays, with some all-you-can eat options) has been on the rise; catering to Chinese tourists in Pahang, and particularly in Bentong. Additionally, small-time investors are tempted to purchase land in durian orchards or plantations, with fractional ownership in small plots and even individual trees on offer.

Khor Reports has consolidated data on fruit farms across Malaysia, durian key indicators for Malaysia (supply chain, prices and more), and the durian economy in China. This is available on a dashboard and maps. The sources include information from official data, news reports, trade data, and e-commerce platforms. This presents a holistic view of the status for Malaysian durian farmscape, products and China retail indicators. Data is as of 30 August 2019.

Note: Other details available for ‘Fruit Farms in Malaysia’ include types of other fruits, category types, e.g. Alibaba, MyGAP, and land addresses. We have approximately 3,300 rows and 80 columns of data.

With China offering a pathway for compliant whole fruit, it is predicted that China will import USD 120 million a year from Malaysia. According to official data, premium-grade exports was nearly 75,000 tonnes in 2018, with approximately 23 percent exported to China. This is very small compared to Thailand exports which have long dominated the durian trade to China. But public interest and Chinese consumers are caught UP by the fully tree-ripened durians that Malaysia offers; with the prized Musang King being one of the prime examples. This is in contrast to the typical (blander) durians from Thailand that ripen during transit.

In order to meet the growing demand for durians, existing planted areas are being converted but there is concern that forests may be destroyed. There have been several reports on this: and its negative impacts on the rights of native people and on biodiversity. A news article recently reported the deforestation of 1,213 hectares in Hulu Sempan (Pahang) for durian plantations, putting the likes of Malayan tigers at further risk of extinction. Furthermore, there are reports of Temiar villages in Gua Musang (Kelantan) still tussling for their rights to their ancestral land.

While Malaysian growers are benefitting from the increased trade in the fruit, it is important to acknowledge the trade offs that will affect the Malaysian people and the environment. Deforestation is a thorny issues and so is uncertainty on future pricing of durians. There is a need for a multi-stakeholder review on how we can best ensure sustainability of the durian agri-value chain.

More details are available on a customised basis; including additional data fields. Please contact us to find out more.

Maps and datasets were assisted by Nadirah Sharif and Loh Rachel of Khor Reports.

#Durian #MusangKing #China #Malaysia #ChinaMalaysia

(c) Khor Reports - Segi Enam Advisors Pte Ltd. 2019. All rights reserved.

Coconut Farmers Face Surging Imports in Malaysia

#Malaysia #coconut #imports have seen a notable surge from Dec 2017. Khor Reports’ has taken a preliminary look at some of the data surrounding the story "Millions of local coconuts left unsold," 27 Dec 2018, The Star.

The Department Agriculture reports reports some 80,000 hectares of coconut planted areas mainly in Sabah, Sarawak, Johor, Perak and Selangor, mostly planted by farmers.

A specialist said, "The situation on the ground is bad. Who ever approved the (imports) were doing the local kampong folks a disservice. If you speak to the small farmers on the ground they are annoyed with (the imports). The small players - and with that the voters - will be disadvantaged and they will be confused because they see no action being taken." (Interview, 30 Dec 2018).

Indeed, imports from Indonesia were about 130 million kg in 2016, 180 million kg in 2017, and 187 million kg in 9 months of 2018 (Jan-Sep, the data is not yet available for Oct-Dec 2018) with peak imports of about 25 million kg/month in Mar, Apr, May 2018. 1 kg is about 1 nut.

Jul 2015 - Sep 2018 monthly data. Source: Khor Yu Leng, Khor Reports - Segi Enam Advisors.

In reviewing the monthly trade data prepared by Khor Reports (see line graph above), a coconut expert noted, “This is very revealing and it is the imports that is causing this problem. There is a glut in the markets, and it is still a problem.” (Interview, 9 Jan 2018).

Imports were equivalent to 15-20% of production in mid-2015 and imports rose to around 55% production-equivalent in Mar-May 2018, around the time of the regime-changing 14th General Election in May 2018. In retrospect, we may ask if coconut problems added to rural angst and the big protest vote among younger voters in rural and semi-urban areas against UMNO-BN.

After the election, it appears that UMNO-BN’s high coconut imports policy was broadly maintained; with imports easing under the new Pakatan Harapan administration, but it remained significantly above trend, Jun-Sep 2018 (see chart below).

The top 4 suppliers of Malaysia imports in Sep 2018 were Indonesia (by far), Philippines, Singapore (surprisingly) and Thailand. Looking at a longer time-frame, coconut imports to Malaysia have risen some 10-fold from mid-2008 to mid-2018, but there was a time period when imports were clamped down, notably mid-2013 to almost mid-2014, the period after the 13th General Election (held in May 2013).

Jul 2008 - Sep 2018 monthly data. Source: Khor Yu Leng, Khor Reports - Segi Enam Advisors.

Looking ahead. The coconut imports data for Oct 2018 and forward will no doubt be closely watched. The question is: What will be Malaysia’s policy on coconut imports be in view of complaints from local coconut traders and farmers ?

Comparative context. The palm oil sector in Malaysia has also seen domestic stockpiles rising to record highs. Reuters reported, “To counter the Indonesian import, (Minister) Kok said the government is "currently encouraging our companies to use domestically produced palm oil to reduce the stockpile…. By reducing imports, we could see a significant reduction in palm oil stocks in Malaysia and this would boost prices." " For both palm oil and coconut, Indonesia holds significant cost advantage.

Indonesia perspective on farmer interests. In the run up to the Indonesia presidential election, Tempo (9 Jan 2019) reports that "candidate pair number 02 had committed not to use identity politics in the 2019 presidential election...The economic programs are the answer to the problems experienced by people at the grassroots level such as farmers, laborers, and housewives. “When we visit the regions, there must be complaints from residents, especially from farmers,” he said... if Prabowo-Sandiaga becomes president and vice president, they will try to reduce the import of commodities that can be produced in Indonesia." Earlier, SCMP reported (19 Dec 2018) that "Indonesia is the world’s second-largest sugar importer and keeping food prices low is critical for voter support ahead of April’s vote. But the country is also home to a vocal contingent of sugar farmers who want to sell for higher prices.... Indonesia is already the world’s second-largest sugar importer behind China though by some accounts, it is actually first. Raising its import quota would feed growing demand from hungry consumers...Data from state logistics agency Bulog indicates the decision to allow more imported sugar has stabilised the price at about US$1 per kg. This, however, has been seized upon by Widodo’s political rivals as evidence his administration will prioritise consumers at the expense of farmers."

#Jokowi #Prabowo #Sandiaga #sugar #palmoil #coconut #PakatanHarapan #UMNO #import #tradepolicy

Notes:

Coconuts policy is lead the Ministry of Agriculture. Palm oil policy is led by the Ministry of Primary Industries.

Product: 0801 Coconuts, Brazil nuts and cashew nuts, fresh or dried, whether or not shelled or peeled. For Malaysia, this category is dominated by coconuts.