JAKARTA, July 24 (Reuters) - Indonesia, the world’s greatest palm oil manufacturer, is testing fuel with a view to increasing to 40% from 35% the share of into biodiesel next year, the energy ministry said.

If carried out, the B40 mandate could increase biodiesel usage to approximately 16 million kilolitres (KL) next year, the ministry stated, from 13 million KL estimated to be consumed in 2024.

“We hope the trials might be ended up in December, so that full execution of B40 might be performed in 2025,” energy ministry senior main Eniya Listiani Dewi stated in a declaration on Tuesday.

The Indonesian Biofuel Producers Association (APROBI) stated the industry had the capacity to fulfill B40 demand, with set up capability anticipated to rise to 20 million KL every year next year from 18 million KL now.

“However we will require more raw materials to meet B40 need,” Ernest Gunawan, the secretary general of APROBI informed Reuters on Wednesday.

The biodiesel market would need 13.9 million metric lots of crude palm oil to produce 16 million KL biodiesel next year, from the estimated 11 million heaps required this year, he added.

Indonesia’s most significant palm oil association GAPKI stated a decline in exports suggested there would suffice raw materials to supply the B40 required in the meantime.

But the industry would require to evaluate “which one would be better”, GAPKI chairman Eddy Martono said, describing the possibility an increase in exports would make providing the domestic market less practical.

Indonesia’s palm oil output is approximated to reach 54.4 million lots in 2024, a 2.26% increase from in 2015, while exports are anticipated to decrease by 2.47% to 29.5 million lots as domestic usage increased, driven by biodiesel required.

The ministry had evaluated the biodiesel, blended with 40% of palm oil, on a train for the first time earlier this week, while planning to evaluate the B40 mix on agriculture equipment, power plants and in the shipping market, it stated. (Reporting by Bernadette Christina and Dewi Kurniawati