JAKARTA, Jan 21 Asia in Focus - Rosediana Suharto of the Indonesian PalmOil Commission, said a draft proposal has been submitted to the statesecretariat calling for an increase in the CPO export tax of up to 60 percent. Imposition of a high export tax will result in big losses inIndonesia's market foothold, Rosdiana said, quoting a study by the OilWorld that every increase of 1 percentage point in export tax will cause aloss of 0.8 per cent in market share.

* If the government decides to raise the export duty Indonesia - thesecond largest producer of CPO - will lose a big part of its market shareto Malaysia, the world's largest producer, she added.

* Malaysia benefited in 1998 when the government slapped a 60 per centexport tax on CPO to curb exports to prevent a shortage in domesticsupply.

Draft proposal submitted to state secretariat calling for 60% hike incrude palm oil export tax - ASIA IN FOCUS