JAKARTA, July 24 (Reuters) - Indonesia, the world’s greatest palm oil producer, is checking 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 carried out, the B40 required might increase biodiesel intake to as much as 16 million kilolitres (KL) next year, the ministry said, from 13 million KL estimated to be consumed in 2024.

“We hope the trials could be ended up in December, so that full implementation of B40 could be carried out in 2025,” energy ministry senior official Eniya Listiani Dewi stated in a declaration on Tuesday.

The Indonesian Biofuel Producers Association (APROBI) said the industry had the capability to meet B40 need, with set up capability anticipated to increase to 20 million KL annually next year from 18 million KL now.

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

The biodiesel market would need 13.9 million metric lots of unrefined palm oil to produce 16 million KL biodiesel next year, from the estimated 11 million tons this year, he included.

Indonesia’s biggest palm oil association GAPKI stated a decrease in exports implied there would be enough raw products to provide the B40 mandate for now.

But the market would need to assess “which one would be more valuable”, GAPKI chairman Eddy Martono said, referring to the possibility an increase in exports would make supplying the domestic market less viable.

Indonesia’s palm oil output is estimated to reach 54.4 million tons in 2024, a 2.26% boost from in 2015, while exports are anticipated to decrease by 2.47% to 29.5 million tons as domestic consumption rose, driven by biodiesel mandate.

The ministry had tested the biodiesel, blended with 40% of palm oil, on a train for the very first time earlier today, while preparing to evaluate the B40 mix on farming equipment, power plants and in the shipping industry, it said. (Reporting by Bernadette Christina and Dewi Kurniawati