Indonesia lowers top rate of crude palm oil levy by $80/mt

Indonesia has lowered the ceiling of its export levy on crude palm oil by $80/mt, applicable when palm oil prices reach above a threshold of $1,000/mt, the country’s finance ministry said on Monday.

Export duties will be lowered to $175/mt from the current $255/mt, the first time the export levy has been changed since February this year.  

Export duties will be $50/mt when palm oil prices reach a minimum of $750/mt.

For every $50/mt increase in prices, the duty will rise by $50/mt for palm oil and $16/mt for products. A ceiling rate of $175 when CPO reached above $1,000/mt will apply.

An announcement of July’s reference price and tax rate for the tropical oil will be announced later this week, but it is widely anticipated that these will fall due to lower prices seen for palm oil recently.

The lower levies come amid lower crude palm oil prices seen in since May, as CPO prices in Indonesia fall to $1,045/mt in mid-June, down 18% from when they peaked in early May, according to Palm Oil Analytics data.