02/11/2012 (Tax-News.com) - Indonesia has reduced the export tax on crude palm oil (CPO) from 13.5% to 9%.

The export reference price (HPE, or Harga Patokan Eksport) for November will be USD776 per metric ton, down from USD927 in October and reflecting declining international prices for the commodity. The CPO reference price, which is calculated from average CIF (cost, insurance, freight) pricing in Rotterdam, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta, will be USD847 per metric ton, down from USD999.17 in October.

CPO is used not only in food but also in soap, detergents and biofuels.

Details of the reduction were announced by the Ministry of Trade’s Director General of Foreign Trade, Deddy Saleh, on October 29, and he expressed hope that exports would increase as a result. Export tax on refined palm oil will also be reduced by half during November, down to 3%.

Indonesia’s system of a monthly sliding scale for CPO duty has been noted in Malaysia, which recently announced its own CPO export tax reduction from January 1, 2013.