Phil Rosen
A worker harvests oil palm fruits, used to produce palm oil, at a plantation in Kutamakmur, Aceh on September 24, 2021. Azwar Ipank/AFP via Getty Images Indonesia, the world’s top producer of palm oil, may lift its palm oil export levy as a way to boost shipments, according to a cabinet minister.
“For shipments to flow we may have to lower the export levy to provide incentives for businesses to export,” Senior Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said Thursday, Reuters reported.
The Southeast Asian nation had already cut the export levy from $375 to $200 per tonne for July, but that figure is set to rise to $240 in August, Reuters said. And a separate export tax of $288 is also poised to kick in after the latest reference price topped $1,500 per tonne.
Indonesia has been pushing out a series of policy maneuvers to boost exports after a three-week ban on shipments that ended in late May sparked disruption across global markets and swelled inventories domestically.
The chairman of the Indonesian Palm Oil Board, Sahat Sinaga, said domestic stockpiles of palm oil ballooned to 6.2 million tonnes following the ban.
Palm oil, the world’s most used vegetable oil, is used in a range of consumer products and cooking. The price of the edible oil skyrocketed in late April when the government first announced the ban. Prices have since eased, with Malaysian benchmark palm oil prices down roughly 18% so far this month.
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