Palm | Kelapa Sawit

JAKARTA: Indonesia, the world's largest palm oil producer, will resume taxing shipments of the commodity from next month after prices rebounded, according to Diah Maulida, director general of foreign trade at the Ministry of Trade.

The country will impose a 3 per cent duty on crude palm oil exports and also raise the so-called base price for calculating the tax to US$700 (US$1 = RM3.49) a tonne from US$560, Maulida wrote yesterday in a text message. Indonesia had scrapped a 7.5 per cent tax last November after prices tumbled amid the global recession.

The reintroduction was expected by the Indonesian Palm Oil Producers' Association, which held talks with government officials last week on the move. The government said in October the charge may be re-imposed, fixed at 1.5 per cent if palm oil in Rotterdam was more than US$700 a tonne, or 3 per cent if it averaged US$751 to US$800 a tonne.
Published: 2009/05/26