Malaysia keeps January crude palm oil export duty at 10%

Dec 17 (Reuters) - Malaysia has maintained its January export tax for crude palm oil at 10% and raised its reference price, a circular on the Malaysian Palm Oil Board website showed on Tuesday. The world's second largest palm exporter calculated a reference price of 5,001.72 ringgit ($1,120.96) per metric ton for January. The December reference price was 4,471.39 ringgit. The export tax structure starts at 3% for crude palm oil in a range of 2,250-to-2,400 ringgit per ton. The maximum tax rate is set at 10% when prices exceed 4,050 ringgit a ton. ($1 = 4.4620 ringgit) (Reporting by Ashley Tang in Kuala Lumpur; Editing by Himani Sarkar)