The palm oil Indonesia price is not one number. A refinery buying crude palm oil (CPO) in Medan pays a rupiah price set at a domestic tender, an exporter pays duty and levy on a dollar reference price the Ministry of Trade fixes each month, and a trader in Kuala Lumpur watches ringgit futures that move all day. This guide explains how those prices are made, the five forces that moved them through 2026, and how the benchmark reaches the farm gate in North Sumatra.
We quote no live price, because a stale one does more harm than none; every figure below carries its month and source. We develop an estate planned around palm oil processing beside Belawan Port, so the last section asks what the price means for a processor choosing a site.
Last updated: 23 October 2026
Palm Oil Indonesia Price: The Benchmarks Behind It
Four reference points sit behind any quoted palm oil Indonesia price, and each answers a different question.
| Benchmark | Published by | Unit and basis | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic tender | PT Kharisma Pemasaran Bersama Nusantara (KPBN), a PTPN subsidiary | Rupiah per kg, excluding VAT, per delivery point such as franco Dumai or franco Belawan | What a domestic buyer pays for physical CPO that day |
| Malaysian futures | Bursa Malaysia Derivatives (FCPO contract) | Ringgit per tonne, 25-tonne lots, delivery months up to 36 months ahead | The regional forward price, used for hedging |
| Rotterdam | Port price for CPO delivered CIF Rotterdam | US dollars per tonne, freight and insurance included | What CPO costs landed in Europe |
| Monthly reference price | Ministry of Trade | US dollars per tonne, one figure per month | The base for export duty and the export levy |
KPBN has run a daily market since 1968 and keeps storage tanks at Belawan and Dumai. Its tender report lists each lot by delivery basis with the asking price, the highest bid and a status. On 7 September 2026, for example, CPO franco Dumai was offered at Rp16,100 per kg against a best bid of Rp16,038, and the lot was marked WD: withdrawn, unsold.
Indonesia also has a physical CPO exchange, launched in October 2023 under the futures regulator Bappebti with ICDX as operator, and its average is an input to the government reference price. Oil bound for Europe faces a further test from 30 December 2026 under the EU deforestation regulation, covered in our guide to sustainable palm oil Indonesia.
How the Ministry of Trade Sets the Monthly Reference Price
The CPO reference price decides how much every exporter pays the state, so it shapes margins more than any daily quote. Under Trade Minister Regulation 35 of 2025, in force since 22 October 2025, the ministry averages three prices from the 20th of one month to the 19th of the next: the Indonesian exchange, the Malaysian exchange and the Rotterdam port price. When the three sit more than US$40 apart, it averages the two closest to the median.
That rule has decided every month of 2026. Rotterdam carries freight to Europe and runs hundreds of dollars higher, so each reference price this year equals the average of the Indonesian and Malaysian figures. For October 2026 the inputs were US$938.89 in Indonesia, US$1,145.42 in Malaysia and US$1,526.56 in Rotterdam, giving US$1,042.15 per tonne, according to the ministry’s October figures reported by DDTCNews.
The table lists each 2026 reference price and the charges that followed; the levy column is rate times price, rounded.
| Month (2026) | Reference price (US$/t) | Export duty (US$/t) | Levy rate | Levy (approx. US$/t) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 915.64 | 74 | 10% | 92 |
| February | 918.47 | 74 | 10% | 92 |
| March | 938.87 | 124 | 12.5% | 117 |
| April | 989.63 | 148 | 12.5% | 124 |
| May | 1,049.58 | 178 | 12.5% | 131 |
| June | 1,029.51 | 148 | 12.5% | 129 |
| July | 1,000.90 | 148 | 12.5% | 125 |
| August | 996.52 | 148 | 12.5% | 125 |
| September | 1,007.51 | 148 | 12.5% | 126 |
| October | 1,042.15 | 178 | 12.5% | 130 |
October’s two charges add up to about US$308 per exported tonne before freight. November’s figure comes around the turn of the month, so treat the table as history, not a quote.
If you are weighing CPO processing in North Sumatra, the enquiry form reaches our investment team directly.
Five Forces That Moved the Palm Oil Indonesia Price in 2026
These five forces moved the markets, and the margins under them, through 2026.
1. Malaysian Futures and the Wider Vegetable Oil Market
Bursa Malaysia’s crude palm oil futures contract is where the region’s forward price forms. It responds to Malaysian output and stocks, to soybean and rapeseed oil, and to crude oil, because palm oil also competes as biodiesel feedstock; in early October 2026, crude above US$90 a barrel was cited as support for palm. The Malaysian exchange also carries half the weight in every 2026 reference price.
2. Export Duty and the Export Levy
Both charges are pegged to the reference price. Export duty applies above US$680 per tonne and rises in steps, reaching US$178 in May and October 2026. The export levy, collected by the plantation fund that pays for the biodiesel programme, rose from 10% to 12.5% on 1 March 2026 under Finance Minister Regulation 9 of 2026. Beforehand, the producers’ association GAPKI expected the increase to press CPO prices by about 3% and fresh fruit bunch prices by 7 to 8%.
3. The B50 Biodiesel Mandate
Indonesia moved to a 50% biodiesel blend on 1 July 2026, with a three-month transition to clear B40 stock and a target of B50 at every fuel station by 1 October. On 8 September the energy ministry told parliament that 94% of stations already sold it, and estimated the programme will use 15.2 to 16.3 million tonnes of CPO in 2026, roughly 29 to 32% of the 51.66 million tonnes produced in 2025.
Every tonne blended at home is a tonne not offered for export, which supports the international benchmarks. The blend’s subsidy is paid from the export levy, so the two policies move together.
4. The Domestic Market Obligation for Cooking Oil
Under Trade Minister Regulation 43 of 2025, producers must supply part of their output at home as Minyakita cooking oil, at least 35% of it through state food companies such as Bulog and ID Food, at a retail ceiling of Rp15,700 per litre, and earn rights to export palm products in return. In effect it is a cost attached to the right to export, not a direct cap on the CPO price.
5. Export Governance Under Government Regulation 24 of 2026
Government Regulation 24 of 2026, signed on 20 May, names a new state company, PT Danantara Sumberdaya Indonesia (DSI), as the export entity for CPO, coal and ferroalloys, with power to set export selling prices. The KPBN price fell 5.77% after the announcement, to about Rp12,285 per kg by mid-week, and North Sumatra’s farm-gate price for partner smallholders’ fruit from 10 to 20-year-old trees dropped from Rp3,902.70 to Rp3,252.89 per kg for 27 May to 2 June.
The regime has moved more slowly than the headline. As of 7 October 2026, Danantara said DSI was reviewing export data as a pilot rather than trading, with its role to be reviewed before 1 January 2027. That review decides who signs export contracts and sets the price.
Why the Indonesian Price Sits Below Malaysia’s
Indonesian CPO trades below Malaysian CPO, and the gap tracks the export charges. A domestic buyer pays no export duty or levy, while an exporter has to recover both from the overseas price, so domestic bids settle below export parity.
The reference price inputs show it. In the window behind the February 2026 price, with duty at US$74 and the levy at 10%, the Indonesian exchange averaged US$125.62 below Malaysia. In the window behind October, with duty at US$148 and the levy at 12.5%, the gap was US$206.53.
For a processor this cuts both ways. Feedstock bought in Indonesia is cheaper, and processed products pay lower levy rates than CPO: 10% for RBD palm olein, 7.25% for branded packed olein and biodiesel. That difference is the policy’s nudge toward refining at home.
From Benchmark to Farm Gate in North Sumatra
The benchmark reaches growers through a formula. Agriculture Minister Regulation 13 of 2024 sets the price a mill pays partner smallholders for fresh fruit bunches: the mill’s realised CPO and kernel prices from the previous period, multiplied by the oil and kernel yield of each tree-age class, then by an index K, the grower’s share.
The provincial office head sets the price on the governor’s behalf, on a proposal from a pricing team that meets at least every two weeks, and K is reset monthly. In late May 2026, North Sumatra’s K stood at 93.27%, and the 21-year age class carried a CPO yield of 22.30%.
That is why a policy shock reaches a smallholder within days. Between the two late-May periods, the local CPO price in the provincial calculation fell about 19%, and the fruit price fell with it.
What the Palm Oil Indonesia Price Means for a Processor Choosing a Site
You cannot choose the benchmark, the levy or the blend mandate. You can choose how far your oil travels and how long it waits, and both come off the price you realise.
Domestic tenders are quoted at a delivery point such as franco Belawan, so an inland refinery pays to move oil there before the quote means anything. Our model of logistics cost in Indonesia puts trucking crude palm oil to a berth at about US$4.53 per tonne over 5 km and US$11.61 over 100 km, handling and transfer losses included.
That is small beside US$308 of October export charges, but it is the one line a site decision controls. Quality is the other: in one Indonesian study, free fatty acid in CPO stored at 45°C rose by roughly 0.35 to 0.41 percentage points a day, as our guide to crude palm oil Indonesia sets out.
SIIPE‘s masterplan places plantation processing and refining plots under 5 km from the planned Sumalacca Dry & Liquid Bulk Port, on a site 4.7 km from Belawan Port, whose liquid bulk terminal ships 3.5 to 4 million tonnes of CPO a year according to its operator, Pelindo Multi Terminal. The Sumalacca port is planned, not operational, and is a medium-term objective on our roadmap; how the chain would compress around it is covered in our analysis of the palm oil supply chain.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the palm oil price in Indonesia today?
There is no single price. Domestic CPO trades at the KPBN tender in rupiah per kilogram, excluding VAT, at each delivery point, while exports are charged on the Ministry of Trade’s monthly reference price, US$1,042.15 per tonne for October 2026. Both change often, so check the source on the day.
How is Indonesia’s CPO reference price calculated?
The ministry averages the Indonesian exchange, Malaysian exchange and Rotterdam port price from the 20th of one month to the 19th of the next, under Trade Minister Regulation 35 of 2025. If they differ by more than US$40, it uses the two closest to the median: in 2026, Indonesia and Malaysia.
What is the export levy on Indonesian CPO?
The levy is 12.5% of the monthly reference price, in force since 1 March 2026 under Finance Minister Regulation 9 of 2026, up from 10%. For October 2026 it came to about US$130 per tonne, on top of an export duty of US$178 per tonne. Both reset every month.
Why is Indonesian palm oil cheaper than Malaysian palm oil?
Domestic Indonesian buyers pay no export duty or levy, while exporters must recover both, so domestic prices settle below export parity. The gap moved with the charges in 2026: about US$126 per tonne in the period behind the February reference price and about US$207 in the period behind October.
Does the B50 biodiesel programme raise palm oil prices?
It adds domestic demand. The energy ministry estimates B50, mandatory since 1 July 2026, will use 15.2 to 16.3 million tonnes of CPO this year, roughly 29 to 32% of 2025 output. Less oil left for export supports international benchmarks, and the export levy funds the programme’s subsidy.
Follow SIIPE’s Development Progress
SIIPE is a planned 5,600-hectare integrated estate in Medan Belawan, with around 840 hectares acquired and a current development phase of 3,000 hectares: 1,800 for the industrial estate, 400 for the deep seaport and 800 for a residential township. Crude palm oil and plantation processing is the first of its five planned sectors.
We publish progress on the estate and the planned Sumalacca port on the SIIPE blog. If you are already sizing a refinery, tank farm or kernel crushing plant, review the industrial land plan and send us your land requirement, from under 5 Ha to above 50 Ha, and our team will reply with availability and indicative terms. You can also message us on WhatsApp at +62 811 860 980.
