JAKARTA, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Indonesian companies will get a 1-1/2 month transition period to meet the new B40 biodiesel requirement, Deputy Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Yuliot Tanjung told reporters on Friday.
Indonesia had planned to launch the mandatory mix of 40% palm oil fuel in biodiesel on Jan. 1, but industry players said they are still waiting for the technical regulations.
The world's largest exporter of palm oil currently imposes a mandatory biodiesel mix of 35%.
The transition period started on Jan. 1, Yuliot said.
Market participants are waiting for the official decree detailing the volume of biodiesel that Indonesia will allocate to fuel retailers to gauge how much palm oil exports will be affected.
Meanwhile, fuel retailers and biodiesel producers have said they are not able to draw contracts for biodiesel distribution without the decree.
Yuliot declined to say when the decree will be released, adding that such details will be announced by the energy minister "hopefully soon".
Dadan Kusdiana, secretary general at the ministry, said the approval process for the biodiesel allocation is currently in the final stage.
Yuliot reiterated the government's plan to allocate 15.6 million kilolitres of biodiesel this year.
The delay caused the Malaysian palm oil benchmark contract to drop 2.6% on Thursday. On Friday, it rebounded by around 1% as of 0632 GMT.
Reporting by Bernadette Christina Munthe; Writing by Fransiska Nangoy; editing by John Mair and Savio D'Souza
Source: Reuters