Oct palm oil stocks increase to 2.72m tonnes

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s total palm oil stocks last month rose 7.63 per cent to 2.72 million tonnes from 2.52 million tonnes in September.

Crude palm oil (CPO) stocks increased 13.94 per cent to 1.61 million tonnes in the month, from 1.41 million tonnes in the preceding month.

Stocks of processed palm oil decreased slightly by 0.4 per cent to 1.1 million tonnes from 1.11 million tonnes previously, said the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) in its “Performance of the Malaysian Palm Oil Industry for the Month of October 2018” released, here, yesterday.

It said CPO production rose 6.01 per cent to 1.96 million tonnes last month from 1.85 million tonnes in the previous month.

Palm kernel output was also up by 4.94 per cent to 485,666 tonnes last month, versus September’s production of 462,795 tonnes.

The MPOB said palm oil exports eased 2.97 per cent to 1.57 million tonnes last month, from 1.61 million tonnes in September, while exports of oleochemicals rose 14.29 per cent to 280,356 tonnes, from 245,310 tonnes previously. Palm kernel oil exports expanded by 23.02 per cent to 77,385 tonnes from 62,901 tonnes in the preceding month, and exports of palm kernel cake rose 31.93 per cent to 225,901 tonnes, from 171,234 tonnes before.

Last month, biodiesel exports surged 99.22 per cent, or almost twofold, to 55,857 tonnes against September’s 28,037 tonnes.