RTRS:Indonesian palm oil refiners the winners after tax move
* Refiners, down-stream business gets boost from tax changes
* Indonesian palm oil industry wins upperhand over Malaysia?
* Wilmar, SMART among those likely to benefit
By Michael Taylor
JAKARTA, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Indonesian palm oil refiners and other downstream firms will be the big winners after the world's top producer made changes to its export taxes this week, analysts and traders said on Friday.
Southeast Asia's biggest economy will cut the export tax cap on crude palm oil (CPO) to 22.5 percent from 25 percent previously, and on palm oil products (olein) to 13 percent from 25 percent from Oct. 1.
"If the palm products export tax is slashed from 25 percent to 13 percent, that appears to be quite a significant reduction," said commodities analyst Chen Xin Yi at Barclays Capital.
"At a broader policy level, it makes sense to promote more downstream, value-added industries and refineries will be one of them.
"In the absence of any changes to Malaysian CPO and palm product export tax structure, and assuming that Indonesian and Malaysian refiners had so far been price competitive, my preliminary assessment is that Indonesian refineries would have an advantage over Malaysian refineries."