CPO Duty, Malaysia Keen To Standardise Structure With Indonesia

KUALA LUMPUR, March 7 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is still negotiating with Indonesia on standardising the export duty structure for crude palm oil (CPO). "We have not finalised anything. We have received feedback from various upstream and downstream industries. "Malaysia hopes to work together with Indonesia on standardising the price structure," Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong told reporters at the Global Palm and Lauric Oils Conference here Tuesday. He said Malaysia hoped to discuss the possibility of having a common tax structure with Indonesia so as not to be in conflict with the world's palm oil trade," he said. Refiners in Malaysia are disgruntled that they were not getting competitively-priced CPO due to the mismatch in duty structure between Malaysia and Indonesia. The mismatch in the CPO export duty structure had led to a discount of between US$15 and US$30 per tonne in the trading of various palm oil products between Indonesia and Malaysia. Mah was confident the CPO export duty structure could be harmonised for the benefit of the industry. Malaysia is the second largest producer and export of CPO and palm related products after Indonesia. The Royal Malaysian Customs raised the CPO export duty from 7.5 per cent in February to eight per cent in March 2017. -- BERNAMA