14/3/06 NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India, the world's leading importer of edible oils, on Tuesday marginally reduced the base import prices of palm oils but raised crude soybean oil prices in line with the market.

The base import price of crude palm oil, imported mainly from Malaysia and Indonesia, has been cut to $434 a tonne from $437.

While the base price of crude soybean oil, bought from South America, has been increased to $537 a tonne from $524, the government said in a notification on a tax Web site.

The government also reduced the base import prices of RBD palm oil to $449 a tonne from $452, and RBD palmolein to $459 per tonne from $462.

It reduced the other palm oil base import price to $442 a tonne from $445, crude palmolein to $456 from $459 and other palmolein to $458 from $461.

Traders said domestic soybean oil prices are likely to increase by around 300 rupees a tonne from the 35,200 rupees quoted in the Mumbai physical market on Tuesday.

"Soybean oil prices will go up but we don't expect much impact on palm oil prices because the change is marginal," a dealer said.

India fixes base prices in order to calculate customs duties and prevent any loss of revenue due to under-invoicing by importers. Traders pay duties on the base value irrespective of the prices paid for the oil.

The March soyoil contract at the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange was quoted 1.60 rupees higher at 369.70 per 10 kg at 0858 GMT, while at the Multi Commodity Exchange April contract rose 2.20 rupees at 379.50.

India, which imports 40 percent of its annual needs of around 11 million tonnes of edible oil, is the world's fourth-largest vegetable oil producer.

The country's edible oil imports are likely to decline to around 4.8 million tonnes in the year to September 2006 from around 5.0 million tonnes a year ago because of higher domestic production.

India bought 269,050 tonnes of edible oil in February, down from 393,713 tonnes in the same month of last year, according to data issued by the Solvent Extractors' Association of India.

Crude palm oil imports stood at 133,139 tonnes and crude soybean oil at 92,704 tonnes during the month, the association said.

The Central Organisation for Oil Industry and Trade forecast on Sunday the country's total oilseed production would be 23.62 million tonnes, up from 22.18 million tonnes in the previous year.

The summer oilseed production is forecast at 10.27 million tonnes, up from 9.82 million tonnes a year ago.