01.11.2018 (The Edge Markets MY) - KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 1): Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok is hopeful that the India-Malaysia free trade agreement will lead to positive outcomes for palm oil trade between the countries.

Responding to recent market buzz that India will cut its import duty on palm oil, Kok said market intelligence and analysts are eager for “any form of breaking news in the global oils and fats markets” to help boost the market dynamics of palm oil.

“At the ministry, we remain hopeful that the agreed FTA between Malaysia and India will emerge positive for Malaysian palm oil trade with India and such outcomes could help push the market dynamics for palm oil, overall,” she said in a statement.

The Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, executed between India and Malaysia, provides for import duties on crude palm oil (CPO) and refined palm oil (RPO) to be reduced to 40% and 45% respectively, effective Jan 1 next year.

Recent reports, quoting sources, said India may slash import duties on CPO and RPO by four percentage points each, by December.

This means cutting import duty on CPO to 40% from 44% now, and that of refined palm oil to 50% from 54% currently.

At time of writing, the benchmark CPO contract for January 2019 traded RM6 lower at RM2,144.