16/8/06 NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India left its base import prices for palm and soy oils unchanged on Thursday, extending a year-long freeze to help contain inflation ahead of an expected pick-up in demand due to the start of the festival season.

The Central Board of Excise and Customs said there had been no change in the base prices, which are used to calculate tariffs importers have to pay irrespective of the prices at which they purchased the oils. This is done to prevent underinvoicing.

The tariff value of crude palm oil remained at $447 per tonne and for crude soybean oil it was left at $580 per tonne, the board said.

India, the world's leading buyer of edible oils, buys palm oils from Malaysia and Indonesia and soy oils from Argentina and Brazil.

Annual inflation leapt to a more than two-year high of 6.69 percent in late January, but softened to a 14-month low of 4.03 percent in mid-June after the central bank tightened policy and government cut duties on a slew of items to cool prices.

Data on Friday is expected to show the wholesale price inflation rate was 4.30 percent for the 12 months to Aug. 4, according to a Reuters poll.