The volume of diesel-tainted crude palm oil shipped recently to Europe - estimated last month at 19,000 tonnes - is now believed to total about 85,000 tonnes, with the bulk moved to the Netherlands, they said. "The amount has reached 85,000 tonnes, of which 68,000 tonnes is in the Netherlands, 6,500 tonnes in Spain, 7,000 tonnes in Germany, 1,500 tonnes in Britain and 2,000 tonnes in Italy," said Derom Bangun, chairman of the Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Association (Gapki).

"The Dutch businessmen say their government will not allow them to process the contaminated CPO and market it in Europe," Bangun told Reuters from The Hague, where he heads an Indonesian delegation for talks with European processors. The tainted shipments were first discovered in October.

Indonesia ships its crude palm oil from Belawan port in North Sumatrato Rotterdam. It is then transported to buyers across Europe. The discovery has effectively halted exports from Belawan and triggered falls in prices of fresh fruit bunches in North Sumatra, which is Indonesia's main growing area. Indonesia is the world's second largest palm oil producer after Malaysia. Many traders believe the contamination most likely took place when the oil was transported from the plantations to Belawan.

Others speculated truck drivers could have stolen palm oil from tanks when they transported it to Belawan, and replaced it with much cheaper diesel to avoid detection. Palmoil cannot be processed Bangun said the Dutch government's decision not to allow the tainted oil to be processed was contrary to an earlier assurance issued by the Dutch Product Board of Margarine, Fats and Oils that the amount of contamination was small and not hazardous to health.

"It seems that it is impossible for the oil to be processed here. It has to be taken out...it may have to go back to Indonesia," saidBangun. When asked who would have to pay for it to be shipped back, he said: "This has to be tackled by the buyers. That's their trading problem. Buyers should take action now." Bangun declined to give further details. He said Jakarta had taken several measures to make sure the next shipments would be safe, including cleaning storage tanks, conducting rigid tests to make sure the oil was not contaminated and also securing the transport of the oil from plantations to the port.

But local traders are still waiting for result of the government's probe and some contracts have been washed out by foreign buyers. Trade sources say around 30,000 tonnes of oil is still stranded in Belawan. Ladjuris, head of the economics section of the Indonesian embassy in The Hague, said the European buyers had urged Jakarta to take action against anyone involved in the contamination. "The Indonesian government continues its efforts to find the source of the contamination," Ladjuris said in a statement obtained by Gapki's office inMedan, capital of North Sumatra.

Ladjuris said Jakarta rejected demands by the European buyers that Indonesia should bear all the costs.

"(Indonesia) reiterates the responsibility is on the hands of buyers. It is the buyers who need to take an initiative to solve it," he said. Ladjuris gave no further details but said in case of deadlock the case would be brought to an arbitration body. Indonesia's crude palm oil output is expected to top six million tonnes in 2000 against up to 5.5 million this year because of higher yields. Most is produced on the island of Sumatra.