Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian government has fixed the export tax on crude palm oil (CPO) at US$18 per metric ton for February 2017 shipments, in line with an increase in the CPOs reference price.

The CPOs reference price is now US$815.52 per metric ton.

The Ministry of Trades Director General for External Trade, Dody Edward, said in a press statement here on Friday that his side has raised the exit tax on CPO by US$27.26 per metric ton, accounting for a 3.46 percent hike.

"The CPO reference price has crossed the US$800 per metric ton level. Consequently, the government has raised the export tax to US$18 per metric ton for February 2017," the director general added.

For the January 2017 period, the CPO reference price was US$788.26 per metric ton.

In the meantime, the reference price of cocoa beans for February 2017 shipment declined by US$131.60 or 5.61 percent from US$2,343.97 to US$2,212.36 per metric ton.

The decline also impacted the export reference price (HPE) of cocoa beans, which dropped by US$128 or 6.2 percent per ton from US$2,060 to US$1,932 per metric ton for February 2017.

The decline in the export reference price of cocoa beans was due to the drop in the price of the commodity in the world market.

However, the exit tax on cocoa beans remained unchanged as contained in Column 2, Annex I Letter B PMK No. 140/PMK.010/2016.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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