KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 12 (Bernama) -- China's long awaited announcement on itsnew palm oil import quota is expected to improve the current price of thecommodity worldwide.

Palm oil is currently traded at RM1,050 per tonnes compared to RM1,250 pertonne last year.

Primary Industries Minister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik said China saidlast year that it would increase its import of palm oil from 1.4 milliontonnes last yeat to 2.4 million tonnes this year.

"China was supposed to officially announce the new quota last month. It'sFebruary already and there's still no announcement. This has caused thepalm oil price to remain low," said Dr Lim at a news conference after theGerakan Chinese New Year open house here Tuesday.

Lim, who is also Gerakan President, said he would meet Chinese officialsafter the new year celebrations.

"The problem is that we celebrate the new year here for two days while inChina it is over a week. We hope to meet as soon as possible so that theannouncement could be made sooner," he said.

Dr Lim hoped that the new quota would be distributed to private companiesand not just government-owned companies.

He also said that he had written to his Indian counterpart to ask hisgovernment to be fair in imposing tariff and import duties on palm oil andsoya oil.

Being the world's biggest importer of palm oil, India's move to imposehigh tariff on palm oil had further dampened the market for the commodity,he said.

"There is discrimination between palm oil and soya oil. We are not askingIndia for special treatment, only similar tariff given to soya oil," hesaid. -- BERNAMA