Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s crude palm oil (CPO) production in December 2014 contracted 22.04% to 1.36 million tonnes from a month earlier, more than earlier forecast, as floods in palm oil producing states curbed harvest.

The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) earlier predicted CPO production in December to fall between 15% and 25% to 1.4 million tonnes compared with 1.75 million tonnes in November.

This followed devastating floods that had inundated several areas in the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia and left thousands displaced.

In a statement on the board’s website yesterday, the MPOB said total palm oil inventory, comprising CPO and processed palm oil, had hit a five-month low of 2.01 million tonnes, a contraction of 11.55%.

Palm oil exports edged up 0.43% to 1.52 million tonnes.

The latest MPOB data showed that December palm oil stockpile had decreased at a higher rate compared to a median forecast in a Reuters survey.

The survey — involving six planters, traders and analysts — forecast that palm stocks would fall 11.4% to 2.02 million tonnes, a five-month low, in December as monsoon floods disrupted harvesting and transportation in the East Coast.

The survey expected December CPO output to decline to 1.36 million tonnes.

Plantation Industries and Commodity Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas was also quoted by news reports as saying a total of 190,600ha of oil palm plantations in the country belonging to both smallholders and major players were affected by the floods.

He said out of the 190,600ha, the bulk or 165,000ha in Pahang, Terengganu, Johor, Kelantan and Perak belonged to major palm oil companies.

 

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on January 13, 2015.

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