JAKARTA: Indonesia is considering cutting its palm oil export levy to encourage more shipments, a cabinet minister said on Thursday, another move to spur exports after a ban designed to protect domestic cooking oil supplies saw palm oil inventories swell.
Asia has been slammed by a wave of protectionism in recent months, with countries enacting food export restrictions on items from palm oil to wheat, sugar and chicken. The disruptions have sent already inflated food prices soaring, with Singapore's food price increase in April hitting levels not seen since March 2009 and Malaysians saying the once affordable everyday chicken is.
JAKARTA, May 17 Hundreds of Indonesian smallholder farmers today staged a protest in the capital Jakarta and in other parts of the world’s fourth most populous country, demanding the government end a palm oil export ban that has slashed their income. Indonesia, the world’s top palm oil.