Brent crude oil declined further to US$97 per barrel this morning as the US and Iran moved closer to a deal, which would reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Aljazeera.com reported that a high-level Iranian delegation is currently in Qatar to discuss the most sensitive issues that still present barriers to a deal to end the war.

Indonesia is the largest exporter of palm oil and thermal coal, no doubt. President Prabowo Subianto expects Indonesia as price maker for both commodities upon seeing ‘success’ in ‘controlling’ global nickel price. 

President Prabowo Subianto presented a data processed from UN Comtrade to come up with a conclusion: Indonesia has long been robbed by its exporters, and, accordingly, shall be stopped with centralization of export through PT Danantara Sejahtera Indonesia (DSI). What if Prabowo’s team wrongly read and analyzed the data, which yet to be cross-checked and verified?

President Prabowo Subianto set a more ambitious economic growth target of up to 6.5% next year, which seems not surprising anymore given his campaign promise for 8% growth before entering 2029 election. The president spent most his almost two hours speech talking about the country’s natural resources wealth and how the State should control more in order to achieve the target. 

Shares of coal miners ended mostly lower ground Wednesday (May 20) following President Prabowo Subianto’s decision to control coal export through Danantara in a bid to clamp down under-invoicing and transfer pricing practices, plus day-dreaming on controlling world price of thermal coal.

Minister of finance Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa claimed of finding suspicious transfer pricing and under-invoicing committed by ten major exporters of palm oil through their affiliated entities in Singapore and other countries. 

The government, through Danantara, has established PT Danantara Sumberdaya Indonesia (DSI), which will become the sole export agency for natural resources products, starting with palm oil, coal, and ferro alloys. During the six-month transition period, exporters are only required to report their activities, while transactions will be fully controlled by Danantara’s platform by January 2027. 

President Prabowo Subianto has officially announced a new policy in export of natural resources, wherein export of thermal coal, palm oil, and ferro alloys can only be done by a state-owned company assigned by the government.

On top of the national police’s involvement in corn production, Minister of defense Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin told lawmakers this week that Indonesian Army (TNI-AD) has been tasked to grow corn and rice, while the Navy is responsible for soybean.