Indonesia’s Prabowo wants protection from foreign interest in palm oil sector

President Prabowo Subianto has called for tighter security to protect Indonesia’s palm oil plantations, saying the commodity is being targeted by foreign countries.

“They really need our palm oil, as it turns out, palm oil is a strategic material,” said Prabowo, who was speaking on Monday at a meeting for national development planning in Jakarta.

“Many countries are afraid of not getting palm oil,” he added, according to a report by the Tempo news website.

Prabowo asked the Indonesian military and police to help regional authorities in protecting palm oil plantations.

The president’s call comes as Indonesia and other commodity exporters are preparing to meet the European Union’s Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which is set to take effect on December 30, 2025, after the bloc’s authorities recently agreed to a one-year delay in its implementation.

The EUDR requires that commodities such as palm oil, timber, soybeans, coffee and cattle sold in EU markets must not come from land deforested or degraded after December 31, 2020.