INDONESIA PROTESTS AGAINST EC VEGETABLE OIL DUTY
Indonesia has protested to the European
Community (EC) about its plan to raise import duties on
vegetable oils, which will affect the country's palm oil
exports to the EC, Trade Minister Rachmat Saleh said.
    "Indonesia, both individually and together with other
members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN),
has protested against the EC plan to increase duties on
vegetable oil imports," he told Indonesian reporters.
    "We very much regret the community's plan," he added.
    He did not say in what form the Indonesian protest was
made.
    Indonesia is a major palm oil producer.
    According to central bank figures, Indonesia exported
362,700 tonnes of crude palm oil to EC countries in calendar
1985 and 301,400 tonnes in the first 10 months of 1986.
Complete 1986 figures are not yet available.
    Finance Minister Radius Prawiro said recently that the
increase in EC duties would add a new burden to ASEAN countries
at a time when they were trying to strengthen their economies
in the face of lower commodity prices.
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