January 17, 2006	Tuesday	Zilhaj 16, 1426

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 16: Malaysian palm oil futures closed higher on Monday after India cut the base import prices of crude palm and soybean oils.

The base import price of crude palm oil, imported mainly from Malaysia and Indonesia, has been reduced to $415 a ton from $417, India’s finance ministry said in a statement.

The base price of crude soybean oil had been cut to $492 a ton from $497 a ton.

India, the world’s leading edible oil importer, fixes base prices to calculate customs duties to prevent the loss of revenue due to under-invoicing by importers. Traders pay import duties on base values irrespective of the prices paid for the oil.

The government also reduced the prices of RBD palm oil to $430 a ton from $432 and other palm oil to $423 from $425.

Palm oil accounts for 60 per cent of the country’s total edible oil imports while soyabean oil makes for the rest. India imports 150,000-200,000 tons of crude palm oil every month.

Volume was light at 2,733 lots of 25 tons each. The market can easily surpass 6,000 lots on a busy day.—Reuters