Malaysia Said to Reform Palm Oil Export Duty Policies

Malaysia will reform its crude palm oil (CPO) export duty policy and introduce a RM1 billion fund to rescue refiners affected by Indonesia's export tax structure, The Star reported on February 3, 2012, citing unidentified sources.

The country's Commodities Ministry has come up with two proposals to help refiners. One is the RM1 billion "Industry Adjustment Fund" (IAF), derived from collecting a cess from plantation players, said the sources.

Another is the "Fallback plan" that will include scrapping the duty free export quota for crude palm oil and crude palm kernel oil while maintaining the high export taxes for the two products to safeguard the refining industry.

The Fallback plan also proposes to give indirect assistance to small farmers to offset any decline in prices of fresh fruit bunches from the oil palms.