ABSTRACT:
Malaysia and Indonesia are the largest and second largest producers and exporters of palm oil products in the world where together they contribute 83.5% of production and 89.6% of palm oil trade in the world. Both countries export crude palm oil (CPO) and processed palm oil(PPO). The trend in exports indicates Malaysia exporting increasing quantities of CPO in the new millennium when exports of CPO increased from 0.4 million tonnes to 1.3 million tonnes in 2000 and 2001, respectively, while exports of Indonesian CPO increased from 1.8 to 2.0 million tonnes. PPO contributed to the larger share of palm products exports of both countries. Monthly FOB prices for Malaysian CPO and PPO in 2001 and 2002 were lower than those of Indonesia but prices for the latter were lower in the international market indicating price competition. Tariffs are imposed on exports of palm products by both countries with the objective initially of raising revenue. In the case of Malaysia, the objective later shifted to that of encouraging downstream processing while for Indonesia, it reflected a goal of keeping cooking oil prices to consumers down during periods of high oils and fats prices. An evaluation of taxes imposed on exports of both countries indicated that there is a difference in the way the export duty payable in the two countries computed. The different manners of computing led to high duty payable in the case of CPO exports by Malaysia when compared to that of Indonesia. There is no duty on exports of PPO from Malaysia while Indonesian duty is very low.
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