15/11/06 NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India, the world's leading importer of edible oils, on Wednesday left unchanged the base import prices of palm and soy oils to help keep inflation in check, a finance ministry official told Reuters.

New Delhi normally reviews the base prices every 15 days to take into account international prices, domestic demand and supplies, and inflation.

But it has not revised palm oil prices since August and has made only marginal changes to soy oil.

"This will put a break on inflationary trends," said S. N. Agarwal, secretary general of Rajdhani Vegetable Oil Suppliers Association. "Already the oils market is high, it would have added fuel to fire."

International prices of both palm and soy oils are at present much higher than the base import prices fixed by the government.

The benchmark January contract for crude palm oil on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives exchange finished up 3 percent or 52 ringgit at 1,741 ringgit ($478) a tonne, a level not seen since May 2004.

In India, the base import price of crude palm oil has been at $447 per tonne since August. Soyoil and palm oil compete for exports and their prices often move in step.

Traders pay duty on base import prices, irrespective of the actual prices paid for the oils, to prevent under-invoicing.

Malaysian crude palm oil futures surged 3 percent on Wednesday, to hit a fresh two-year high on the back of strong soyoil prices and a decline in output.

"Any revision would have meant higher prices and more inflation," said B. V. Mehta, of the Solvent Extractors' Association of India.

India is a leading importer of both palm and soy oils, and changes in base prices are keenly watched by traders in Malaysia and Indonesia, the world's two main palm oil exporters.

It buys soy oils mainly from Argentina and Brazil.

Faced with a sharp spurt in prices of wheat, sugar and pulses, India earlier this year resorted to large-scale imports of wheat and pulses, and banned sugar exports.