October 2026 CPO Reference Price Rises 3.44%; Export Levy at US$130 per Tonne

Jakarta — Indonesia's Ministry of Trade has set the crude palm oil (CPO) reference price (HR) for 1–31 October 2026 at US$1,042.15 per metric tonne. This is up US$34.64, or 3.44%, from the September 2026 reference price of US$1,007.51 per metric tonne.

With the higher reference price, exporters face a CPO export duty (BK) of US$178 per metric tonne and an export levy (PE) of 12.5% of the reference price, equivalent to US$130.269 per metric tonne. The rates are set under Minister of Trade Decree No. 1921 of 2026 on Export Benchmark Prices and Reference Prices for agricultural and forestry products subject to export duty and public service agency (BLU) tariffs, as announced by the Ministry of Trade's Director General of Foreign Trade, Tommy Andana, and reported by several media outlets on Saturday (3 October 2026).

How the reference price is calculated

The October reference price is based on average CPO prices over the period 20 August–19 September 2026 on three exchanges:

• Indonesian CPO exchange: US$938.89/MT
• Malaysian CPO exchange: US$1,145.42/MT
• Rotterdam market: US$1,526.56/MT

Because the averages across the three sources differed by more than US$40, the reference price was set using the average of the two closest sources, namely the Malaysian and Indonesian exchanges. For derivative products, the export duty on RBD palm olein in branded packaging with a net weight of up to 25 kg was set at US$48 per metric tonne.

The link to biodiesel

For the biodiesel programme, the export levy figure matters. Levy funds are collected by the Plantation Fund Management Agency (BPDP) and are the main source of incentives for subsidised (PSO) biodiesel—covering the gap between the biodiesel market index price (HIP) and the price of diesel. A higher reference price means higher levy revenue per tonne exported. On the other hand, high CPO prices also push up the biodiesel HIP, so the amount of incentive needed may grow as well.

On the domestic market, CPO on the state plantation commodity exchange (KPBN) Inacom was quoted at IDR 14,625 per kg in Wednesday's trading (7 October 2026), down slightly by IDR 41 per kg from the previous day, according to InfoSAWIT. These daily price movements will later be reflected in the next period's biodiesel HIP.

The balance between exports, levies and domestic demand is also the backdrop to the Indonesian Palm Oil Association's (GAPKI) proposal to make biofuel policy more flexible.