18/09/2023 (The Business Times) - MALAYSIA is reviewing an existing windfall tax on the palm industry and hopes to complete it next year, Minister of Plantation and Commodities Fadillah Yusof said on Monday (Sep 18).

Planters in Malaysia, the world’s second-largest producer of palm oil, have for years asked the government to reassess the tax rate and the threshold for the windfall profit tax.

Malaysia currently imposes a windfall levy of 3 per cent on palm oil prices above RM3,000 (S$874.05) per tonne in peninsular Malaysia, and above RM3,500 per tonne in Sabah and Sarawak, the largest palm oil-producing states in the country.

Fadillah, who is also Malaysia’s deputy prime minister, was responding to a parliamentary question on taxes “burdening” the industry, and did not provide details of the review. The matter will be discussed with the ministry of finance, he added.

On Sunday, state news agency Bernama reported that China will increase its imports of Malaysian palm oil by 250,000 tonnes a year, citing Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Separately, independent inspection company AmSpec Agri Malaysia said last Friday that exports of Malaysian palm oil products from Sep 1 to 15 fell 9.3 per cent from a month earlier to 574,936 tonnes. REUTERS

https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/international/malaysia-reviewing-windfall-tax-palm-oil-industry