Indonesian Palm Oil Shipments to Israel Continued Through 2025, Government Trade Data Shows

Indonesia's Ministry of Agriculture and the national statistics agency, Statistics Indonesia (BPS), recorded roughly 29,600 tonnes of palm oil products shipped to Israel in 2023, about 22,400 tonnes in 2024, and about 19,500 tonnes in 2025, according to figures reported by Middle East Monitor. From January through August of this year, the agencies recorded a further 10,400 tonnes of palm oil products and nearly 4,900 tonnes of coconut products sent to Israel, a combined shipment valued at approximately $20.8 million.

The volumes have declined since 2023, but the trade line has not closed. Indonesia maintains no diplomatic relations with Israel and does not recognize the state, a position tied in official rhetoric to the Palestinian population living under occupation. The trade data runs against that posture.

Indonesia supplied on average 71 per cent of the crude palm oil Israel bought from other countries between 2020 and 2025, according to a study by two Widyatama University economists cited in the report.

That study, whose authors were not named and whose full methodology was not published alongside the figures, found the share reaching as high as 88 percent in some years, with product categories including palm olein, palm kernel oil, and glycerine. Some shipments reportedly route through intermediary ports in Singapore or Hong Kong before reaching Israel, a pattern that would obscure final destination in standard export paperwork.

The same researchers found Israel's purchases amount to a small fraction of Indonesia's total palm oil exports, under 0.12 percent by the Widyatama estimate and 0.07 percent of all Indonesian exports in 2023 according to BPS. For Indonesia, the trade is marginal. For Israel, Indonesia is reportedly its largest palm oil supplier, giving Jakarta leverage it has not exercised through export policy.

What is documented, what is alleged

Social media posts circulating in Indonesia have named major palm oil conglomerates, including Wilmar, Sinar Mas through its SMART subsidiary, Musim Mas, and Royal Golden Eagle through Apical and Asian Agri, as sellers reaching Israeli buyers. No shipping manifests or customs documentation tying specific companies to specific Israeli-bound cargo have been published. Sinar Mas did not respond to questions from reporters, according to the report.

The report also states, without providing sourcing within the article, that Malaysia banned Israeli-flagged vessels from its ports and blocked cargo loading for Israel-bound ships in December 2023, while Indonesia continues to permit Israeli shipping line ZIM to call at its ports. It further states that the Indonesian Ulama Council has called on the government to end trade with Israel, and that the boycott group BDS Indonesia has demanded a halt to palm oil exports specifically. These claims could not be independently verified in the sourcing available and are attributed to the original report.

The legal backdrop

In January 2024, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to take measures to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza, a ruling that is public record. In September 2025, a United Nations Commission of Inquiry concluded that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza and called on member states to prevent companies under their jurisdiction from facilitating the conduct. Israel rejects the Commission's findings. UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese reportedly urged an expanded boycott during a recent visit to Jakarta.

Indonesia's own export rules, according to the Widyatama researchers, treat Israel no differently than any other trading partner, applying the same taxes, fees, and the brief 2022 export restriction imposed during a domestic cooking-oil shortage. The gap between declared foreign policy and documented commercial practice sits in the trade ledgers themselves.