23/04/2010 (Flex News Food) - Indonesia will keep May export taxes for crude palm oil and cocoa beans unchanged from April, the trade ministry said on Friday, confirming figures Reuters reported earlier this week.

The export tax for crude palm oil in May will remain at 4.5 percent, while the base export price for the vegetable oil is set at $752 a tonne against $755 in April, the ministry said in a statement.

May's cocoa bean export tax will remain unchanged at 10 percent, the ministry said, while the base export price is $2,608 a tonne, up marginally from April's $2,603.

The cocoa tax was introduced in April and its impact is being examined by the government following complaints from exporters.

"The policy is being evaluated but it doesn't mean it will be postponed," Anggito Abimanyu, head of fiscal policy at the finance ministry, said on Thursday.

Indonesia is the world's third largest producers of cocoa beans and world's top producer of palm oil.