Palm Shell Export Levies, Have a Dilemma?

Increasingly popular in mid-2020, the opportunities and economic value of palm kernel shell (PKS) exports are getting sexier. Shell is the waste produced from processing palm kernel kernels with a shape like coconut shells and has a heat of about 3,500-4,100 kcal per kg. Palm kernel shells have the potential to be used as charcoal and other fuels. Compared to coal, palm kernel shells have the advantage of being environmentally friendly fuel because they do not contain sulfur so that they do not produce polluting gases (SO2). In the process of processing fresh fruit bunches (FFB), every 1 tonne of FFB will produce a palm kernel shell of 6.5 percent of the FFB volume or about 65 kg. Currently, palm kernel shells are used as a biomass source which is getting very popular and needed in the Asian market, especially Japan and Thailand. In 2019, it was recorded that as many as 1.8 million tons of palm oil shells had been exported with an economic value of US $ 144 million. Exported palm ...