VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Sumatra Island is expected to be able to transform into a downstream industrial center for palm oil derivative products (CPO), instead of just exporting CPO or semi-finished products. This step is believed to be able to make provinces in Sumatra stronger in facing the dynamics of the world economy, including prices of commodities such as palm oil and rubber which are now sluggish. This was affirmed by Minister of National Development Planning (PPN / Bappenas), Bambang Brodjonegoro at the Office of the Governor of West Sumatra on Friday (11/23). He considered that excessive dependency on superior commodities makes a region have unstable economy. This has been experienced by West Sumatra, which relied on CPO and rubber as the main export commodities. He also encouraged policy makers at the regional level to be able to focus on diversifying commodities such as rubber, CPO and petroleum. (Rol-Mar)