KUALA LUMPUR: The Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry will closely monitor the palm oil industry and analyse any possible impact on the local market following the announcement by Indonesia to impose a levy for palm oil exporters.

In a statement yesterday, its Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas said in a meeting he chaired on the matter on March 23, a task force by the government and industry members would be established to monitor the situation and give recommendations to the government.

The Indonesian government announced a plan to introduce export levies for palm oil exporters that will be used primarily to fund its biodiesel programme and for replanting and research programmes in local plantations.

Under the plan, palm oil exporters would be levied US$50 per tonne for crude palm oil (CPO) shipments and US$30 a tonne for processed palm oil products.

According to media reports, Indonesian President Joko Widodo yesterday signed a regulation requiring exporters to pay the levy.— Bernama

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