JAKARTA – Indonesia said on Friday that it would slap palm oil companies operating within forest areas with fines amounting to a total of 4.8 trillion rupiah ($310.1 million). More than 475 billion rupiah ($30.7 million) in fines have been issued so far, an official from the ministry of Maritime Affairs and Investment Firman Hidayat told reporters, who did not provide further details or identify the companies fined. Indonesia said last month it had identified some 200,000 hectares of oil palm plantations in areas designated as forests, which are expected to be returned to the state to be converted back into forests. Indonesia, the world’s biggest palm oil producer and exporter, issued rules in 2020 to sort out the legality of plantations operating in areas that are supposed to be forests, aimed at fixing governance in the sector.