JAKARTA : Indonesia will audit all palm oil companies operating in the country and require them to move their headquarters onshore amid efforts to improve governance of the sector, senior cabinet minister Luhut Pandjaitan told local media.
Luhut's spokesperson, Jodi Mahardi, said on Wednesday the government will audit companies' land size, partnership with nearby smallholder farmers, and tax reports, among others. Several Indonesian palm oil companies are listed or headquartered in neighbouring Singapore while some Malaysian companies operate plantations in Indonesia through local subsidiaries."The plan is to launch this after supply scarcity has been taken care of and prices return to normal," Jodi said, referring to cooking oil prices that have remained stubbornly high despite a controversial ban on exports of palm oil that was imposed on April 28 and lifted this week.