The Indonesian government has lowered its top rate of crude palm oil (CPO) export levy, AgriCensus reported the country’s finance ministry as saying on 20 June.
Export duties would be reduced by US$80/tonne – from US$175/tonne to US$255/tonne – to be applied when palm oil prices reached above a US$1,000/tonne threshold, according to the report.
The move was the first time the export levy had been changed since February, AgriCensus said.
Export duties would be US$50/tonne when palm oil prices reached a minimum of US$750/tonne.
For every US$50/tonne increase in price, the duty would rise by US$50/tonne for palm oil and US$16/tonne for products – up to the ceiling rate of US$175 when CPO reached above US$1,000/tonne – the report said.
An announcement of July’s reference price and tax rate for palm oil was also due to be announced, but it was widely anticipated that these would fall due to recent lower palm oil prices, AgriCensus wrote.
The lower levies were seen against a backdrop of lower CPO prices since May, with CPO prices in Indonesia falling to US$1,045/tonne in mid-June, an 18% reduction since their peak in early May, according to Palm Oil Analytics data.