Salah satu manfaat dari perdagangan internasional adalah export premia, dimana perusahaan eksportir memiliki keunggulan produktivitas dibandingkan perusahaan noneksportir. Export premia dapat dianalisis melalui dua hipotesis, yaitu self selection hypothesis dan learning by exporting hypothesis. Hipotesis pertama menyatakan bahwa tingginya level produktivitas perusahaan merupakan syarat untuk masuk ke pasar ekspor. Sebaliknya, hipotesis kedua meyakini bahwa keputusan masuk ke pasar ekspor memberikan dampak positif bagi produktivitas perusahaan. Secara empiris, learning by exporting hypothesis masih bersifat inkonklusif dibandingkan self selection hypothesis. Berdasarkan perdebatan literatur tersebut, penelitian ini akan menggunakan pengukuran Total Factor Productivity (TFP) dalam menguji learning by exporting hypothesis pada industri minyak kelapa sawit di Indonesia sebagai negara produsen dan eksportir utama minyak kelapa sawit di dunia. Meskipun pemerintah Indonesia menerapkan kebijakan pajak ekspor pada sektor industri minyak kelapa sawit nasional, hasil pengujian empiris selama periode 2010-2014 menunjukkan bahwa pengalaman ekspor (dummy dan intensitas) pada tahun ini berdampak positif terhadap produktivitas perusahaan pada tahun berikutnya.

International trade creates export premia as one of its advantages, where exporter have superior productivity compared to nonexporter. Different productivity level of exporter and nonexporter can be analyzed by two hypothesis: self selection hypothesis and learning by exporting hypothesis. The first hypothesis claims that higher productivity level of firms is required to become exporter. In contrast, the second hypothesis believes that exporting brings positive impact on firms productivity. Empirically, learning by exporting hypothesis seems to be doubtful and inconclusive rather than self selection hypothesis. Based on its literature debate, by using Total Factor Productivity (TFP) measurement this paper try to analyze the existance of learning by exporting hypothesis on palm oil industry in Indonesia as main producer and exporter in the world for palm oil commodity. On the other side, the government apply export tax policy on palm oil commodity and its derivatives in order to protect the availability for domestic needs. However, the empirical result during 2010-2014 shows that firms export status and intensity on current period have positive effect to productivity on the next period.