"It (the proposal) is being discussed. It seems that (coconut exports) would be subject to tax," Director General of Foreign Trade at the Trade Ministry Deddy Saleh said following a working meeting with the House of Representatives Commission VI here on Monday.
The measure was necessary now that importers bought Indonesian coconut at higher price than domestic price. "The export tax is likely to be the best instrument like what we have applied to cocoa and crude palm oil exports. We will use it for industries which need protection," he said.
However, he did not elaborate on the mechanism of imposing tax on coconut exports and the types of coconut to be subject to export tax.
"Let`s wait and see. Now we are discussing (export tax on) coconut and will probably discuss (export tax on) copra too," he said.
Neither did he mention the current production and export of coconut.
"So far coconut exports have not been regulated so we don`t know the volume of coconut exports," he said.
Domestic coconut processing industries earlier asked the government to impose tax on coconut exports to ensure a stable supply of raw materials.
(T.M035/S012/O001)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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