Andrea Shalal, David Lawder

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Indonesia’s latest ban on palm oil exports will affect other countries but it is necessary in order to reduce the soaring price of domestic cooking oil caused by Russia’s war with Ukraine. This was stated Friday by Indonesia’s Finance Minister to Reuters.

Sri Mulyani said Friday that, with supply exceeding demand, the government’s announcement of a ban on Friday was one of the “heaviest” moves it could make to stabilise domestic prices after other measures were unsuccessful.

In an interview, she stated that global supplies will not be as good as they could have hoped for. She spoke out on the sidelines at spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund/World Bank. “If we don’t export, it will definitely hit other countries.

China and India are big buyers of palm oil from Indonesia. This country is the largest global producer, accounting for over half of the supply. You can use palm oil in everything from food oils and cosmetics to biofuels.

Indrawati claimed that the previous regulations requiring oil producers to hold stocks for domestic consumption did not achieve “the same level of prices as we desire.” These cooking oils are still prohibitively expensive to purchase for an average household.

Washington’s policymakers raised concerns over the possibility of food insecurity as a result if Ukraine is a large producer of sunflower oil, wheat and corn. David Malpass, President of the World Bank, stated repeatedly that countries must avoid food hoarding and export control.

However, Indrawati is a former managing director of the World Bank. He said that, as a policymaker and political leader, you cannot “stand in front your people when your commodity is required by your people” and let the (supplies just go away) of the country.