Malaysia: Palm oil and the price of tomorrow

labour, discipline and sweat. He then laid out the tax numbers for 2024. Based on estimates from the Malaysian Estate Owners Association, the industry contributed about RM11.5bil in taxes borne by growers alone. This formidable sum does not arrive through one neat line item. It flows through income tax, windfall profit levy, state sales tax, Malaysian Palm Oil Board cess, land taxes, quit rents and local council assessments – seven key fiscal layers at least, stacked like a mille-feuille or kuih-lapis, finely constructed and unavoidably consumed. And that is before factoring in the crude palm oil (CPO) export tax, which further reshapes the picture. As global CPO prices rise, export levies rise alongside them, suppressing local netbacks. For governments, this helps stabilise domestic supply. For growers, it caps upside. Although this tax is technically paid by exporters, its effect is quietly transmitted through the entire supply chain in the form of lower prices, smallholders ...