31/3/06 NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India, the world's leading edible oil importer, on Friday trimmed the base import prices of palm oils and crude soybean oil, but traders said the cuts would have only a marginal effect on domestic prices.

They said the reductions reflected a fall in global prices of both soy and palm oils and was in line with market expectations.

The base import price of crude palm oil, imported mainly from Malaysia and Indonesia, has been reduced to $430 per tonne from $434. The base price of crude soybean oil, bought from South America, has been cut to $524 per tonne from $537.

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 government said in a notification on a tax Web site that the base import prices of RBD palm oil has been cut to $445 per tonne from $449, and RBD palmolein to $455 per tonne from $459.

It reduced the other palm oil base import price to $438 per tonne from $442, crude palmolein to $452 from $456, and other palmolein to $454 from $458.

"The downward revision was expected as the international prices of edible oils have gone down in the last three weeks," said B.V. Mehta, executive director of the Solvent Extractors' Association of India.

"The changes will not have any bearing on imports."

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.

The Central Organisation for Oil Industry and Trade forecast on Sunday that 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.