Mumbai, Jan 19 : Malaysian Palm Oil Promotion Council (MPOPC) today saidthat the differential duty structure imposed by India for crude palm oil(CPO), refined oil and soyabean oil is adversely impacting the palm oilprices of Malaysia.

"The Indian government has imposed different import duties for CPO at 65per cent, refined oil at 75 per cent and soyabean oil at 45 per cent. Thisis affecting us negatively," MPOPC chairman Lee oi Hian told reportershere today.

Hian said the burden of differential taxation is borne by Malaysia butultimately the price rise is transferred to the customer.

Asked about import projections to India, Hian said it would be based oncrop prospects in India and it is likely to be more than the last yearimports.

"The import to India for the year 2004 was 1.10 million tonnes out of thetotal edible oil import of 4.5 million tonne by India. The crop woulddetermine the quantity of imports," he said.

Even if the domestic crop is good in India, the capacity constraints woulddemand more imports from Malaysia, he added. PTI