Malaysia extends export duty exemption on crude palm oil until Jan

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia, the second-largest palm grower, extended its export duty exemption on crude palm oil until January, a circular from the Malaysian customs department showed on Tuesday.

Malaysia first scrapped its export taxes for the crude grade for September and has kept that unchanged until December, as it looked to encourage overseas sales and cushion the fall in prices which have tumbled nearly 20 percent this year.

Industry players had expected Malaysia to carry on with duty free shipments of crude palm oil, and say Indonesia will likely follow suit as benchmark palm prices struggle to pull away from five-year lows.

Some market players expect Malaysia to exempt the levy into March next year.

The Southeast Asian country calculated a reference price of 2,124.53 ringgit ($608) per tonne for January crude palm oil, effectively abolishing the export tax duty.