KPB sells 21,500 tons of CPO at auction
JAKARTA (JP): The government-sponsored Joint Marketing Office (KPB) for farm products sold 21,500 tons of the 29,000 tons of crude palm oil (CPO) put on auction on Tuesday.
The head of KPB's Palm Oil Marketing Center, Adi Kuncoro, the CPO was sold at a price of Rp 1,965 (28 U.S cents) per kilogram for July delivery.
The CPO came from state-owned plantation companies PT Perkebunan Nusantara (PTPN) I to XIV.
Adi said that around 26 local private companies participated in the auction, the second auction held by KPB this year.
Adi said PT Musi Mas won the bids of 7,500 tons of CPO from PTPN III, 3,000 tons from PTPN IV and 1,000 tons from PTPN II at the prices of Rp 1,965 per kilogram.
He said PT Kusum Products Indonesia won the bids of 2,500 tons CPO produced by PTPN V. PT Inti Nusa Benua Perkasa won 2,500 tons also from PT Perkebunan Negara V.
The agency also sold 5,000 tons of CPO produced by PTPN VII to PT Tunas Lampung at the price of Rp 1,935 per kilogram.
The volume of CPO sold Tuesday was below the tender offer of 29,000 tons from six state-owned plantation companies.
However, the amount sold was higher than 8,000 tons of CPO sold last week. KPB was only able to sell 8,000 tons of CPO out of 19,500 tons auctioned last week.
Adi said the selling price in Tuesday's auction was "very much better" than the selling price of Rp 1,820 per kilogram in last week's tender.
He said that the better prices was partly due to the reduction in export taxes on CP0 made by the government last week.
"The lower export tax has made CPO trading more attractive and has lifted the prices of CPO and its by-products in both international and domestic market," he said.
But he added that the prices were still considered low due to the abundant supply of CPO in domestic market.
He said the joint marketing office would hold a weekly sell tender for the commodity July 13.
The government has cut the export tax on CPO and its by products (CPO) to as high as 10 percent from 30 percent in order to give more incentives for local CPO producers to export their products amid the falling international prices.
According to the Minister of Finance's decree signed on Monday, the new export taxes will be effective from July 2.
Export taxes on oil palm kernel and CPO were lowered to 10 percent from 30 percent while export taxes on refined bleached deodorized (RBD) palm oil and RBD palm olein were lowered to 6 percent from a previous 22 percent.
The government imposed zero export taxes on other CPO products, such as crude palm kernel, RBD palm kernel oil, prepackaged RBD olein not exceeding five kilograms in volume, crude stearin and RBD stearin from as high as 20 percent.
The government also slashed taxes on exports of crude palm olein to 8 percent from 26 percent.
The government also set on Tuesday the reference prices used to calculate the payment of export taxes on crude palm oil (CPO) and its byproducts.
The reference price of CPO was maintained at $260 per metric ton. The reference price of oil palm kernel is $55 per ton, refined bleached deodorized (RBD) palm oil is $270 per ton, crude palm olein is $210 per ton and RBD palm olein is $230 per ton.
The government do not set reference prices for other CPO products since it imposed zero export tax on them.
The export tax on CPO and its byproducts was lowered to a maximum 30 percent last month. The export tax had been at 40 percent since February. (gis)