KUALA LUMPUR (Mar 10): Malaysian palm oil output and inventory fell in February from a month earlier as floods in oil palm-growing states curbed harvest of the commodity.

The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) said in a statement today crude palm oil (CPO) production fell 3.37% to 1.12 million tonnes. Total palm oil inventory, comprising CPO and processed palm oil, declined 1.53% to 1.74 million tonnes.

Meanwhile, palm oil exports fell 18.44% to 971,640 tonnes. For comparison, ITS data showed that exports of palm oil products for March 1 to 10 this year declined 12.3% from a month earlier.
 
MPOB's February production and export numbers had fallen more than market estimates, based on a Reuter's survey of seven planters, traders and analysts.

Reuters reported that CPO production was seen dropping 3 percent to 1.13 million tonnes - the weakest since Feb. 2011 - after monsoon floods hurt output in the top palm-growing states of Sabah and Sarawak, with seasonably weaker yields in the rest of the country also reducing overall output levels.

Exports were forecast to have fallen 8 percent to 1.09 million tonnes, which would be the lowest since February 2008, when only 1.07 million tonnes were shipped.

Inventory decline came in below estimates. Reuters reported the market had expected palm oil stocks at a median 1.67 million tonnes at the end of February, down 5.4 percent from January and the weakest since June.

In January, MPOB data showed that CPO output fell 14.96% while palm oil inventory declined 12.19%. Palm oil exports dropped 21.61%