Indonesia relaxes palm oil levy rules: finance ministry

[JAKARTA] Indonesia has relaxed rules on levies for palm oil and derivative products effective immediately following a drop in prices, according to a finance ministry regulation uploaded on a government website on Wednesday.

Indonesia, the world's top exporter of palm oil, will not collect levies from palm exporters when prices are below a threshold of US$570 per tonne, but will charge US$10-25 once prices are in a range of US$570-619 per tonne. The range will rise to US$20-50 when prices hit above US$619 per tonne.

The details of the new regulation were different from the previous announcement.

Under the previous rules, exporters must pay US$20-50 per tonne regardless of what palm prices are. The rules for export taxes remain the same.

REUTERS