Indonesia extends palm oil export levy waiver to October 31

Indonesia on Wednesday extended its policy of not collecting levies for palm oil exports to October 31, informed trade minister Zulkifli Hasan.

He said that the decision was taken to help encourage exports of palm oil and prop up prices of palm oil fruits for farmers.

The policy, introduced in July, was due to run until the end of this month.

Earlier, Indonesia had announced slashing its export levy for all palm oil products until August 31 in a fresh attempt to boost exports and ease high inventories, finance ministry officials said on Saturday, adding the move would not disrupt government revenues.

It was expected that the decision by the world’s biggest palm oil exporter would further depress prices, which have fallen by about 50% since late April to their lowest in over a year.

Indonesian palm oil producers had been struggling with high inventories since the country imposed a three-week export ban through to May 23 to reduce domestic cooking oil prices.

Since lifting the ban, Jakarta has implemented rules on mandatory local sales – known as the domestic market obligation (DMO) – to keep produce at home to be made into cooking oil.

Tags: prices, palm oil, cooking oil, policy, exports, Indonesia