Indonesia keeps palm oil export tax

Indonesia is maintaining its zero percent palm oil export tax in January, while it will raise crude palm oil base export price to $418 a tonne from $415 a tonne in December, the trade ministry said late on Wednesday. The moves are effective from January 1 to end of January.
The new base price is far below the minimum reference price for palm oil export tax, which has been raised to $700 a tonne from $550. The base export price is used to calculate export tax paid by exporters. Indonesia, the world's top producer of palm oil used in the production of a wide range of products from toothpaste to ice cream - is forecast to produce 20.3 million tonnes of crude palm oil in 2009, from an estimated 18.8 million tonnes this year, the Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Association said this month.