Manufacturers on Saturday raised ghee prices by Rs 5 per kg, to Rs 80 per kg, in the wake of export tax increased by Indonesia on palm oil, traders said. They said that currently Indonesia is facing shortage in production.
Therefore, the Indonesian government has raised palm oil export tax by 5 percent to 6.5 percent from 1.5 percent aimed to meet the local consumption, besides increasing the commodity supplies to the domestic markets. "The Indonesian government's decision to raise exports tax has a negative impact on world palm oil market and prices of palm oil have soared by $20 per ton since Friday," importers said.
Palm oil has now crossed $800 per ton in the world market, they added. Local ghee manufacturers have raised their prices by Rs 80 per 16-kg tin to Rs 1,280 per 16-kg from Rs 1,200 of Friday, a retailer said. Branded ghee and edible oil prices are still unchanged, as their prices are still higher than unbranded ones, he added.
"It is expected that during next two weeks the pieces of crude palm oil would reduce as exports deals for September had been done at $790 per ton," importers said. Supply during July, August and September is expected to normalise in the Indonesian palm oil market, which would help in reducing crude palm oil prices in the international market, they added.