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

If implemented, the B40 mandate could increase biodiesel intake to approximately 16 million kilolitres (KL) next year, the ministry said, 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 official Eniya Listiani Dewi stated in a statement on Tuesday.

The Indonesian Biofuel Producers Association (APROBI) said the industry had the capability to meet B40 demand, with installed capability expected to increase to 20 million KL each year next year from 18 million KL now.

“However we will need more raw products to satisfy B40 demand,” 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 tons required this year, he added.

Indonesia’s greatest palm oil association GAPKI stated a decrease in exports implied there would suffice raw materials to provide the B40 required in the meantime.

But the industry would require to assess “which one would be more important”, GAPKI chairman Eddy Martono said, referring to the possibility a boost in exports would make providing the domestic market less viable.

Indonesia’s palm oil output is approximated to reach 54.4 million tons in 2024, a 2.26% increase from in 2015, while exports are anticipated to decline by 2.47% to 29.5 million loads as domestic intake rose, driven by biodiesel mandate.

The ministry had actually tested the biodiesel, with 40% of palm oil, on a train for the very first time previously this week, while preparing to check the B40 mix on agriculture machinery, power plants and in the shipping market, it stated. (Reporting by Bernadette Christina and Dewi Kurniawati