By Ashley Tang
KUALA LUMPUR- Malaysia’s commodities minister on Tuesday dismissed concerns over a government decision last week to expand duties imposed on the country’s crude palm oil exports, saying it would make the sector’s downstream operations more competitive.
“When we charge higher taxes on CPO exports, we are actually encouraging more value-added products to be developed by the downstream sector,” minister Johari Abdul Ghani told reporters at an industry conference.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, while presenting the government’s 2025 budget on Friday, had announced plans to revise crude palm oil export duty rates and market price range structure from November.
In a budget appendix released by the finance ministry following the presentation, the government said it would raise the maximum export duty rate to 10 percent for crude palm oil priced above 4,050 ringgit ($937.50) per metric ton effective Nov. 1.
The current export tax structure starts at 3 percent for crude palm oil in a 2,250 to 2,400 ringgit-per-ton range, with the maximum rate set at 8 percent for CPO prices above 3,450 ringgit per metric ton. – Reuters
