February palm oil stocks fall 5.23 percent

Palm oil stocks fell 5.23 per cent to 2.44 million tonnes in February this year from 2.58 million tonnes in January, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) said today.

It said crude palm oil (CPO) stocks declined 10.11 per cent to 1.40 million tonnes last month but processed palm oil increased 2.26 per cent to 1.04 million tonnes.

Palm kernel stocks dipped 4.40 per cent to 154,220 tonnes in February while crude palm kernel oil stocks eased 3.42 per cent to 286,236 tonnes, it said in a statement.

According to MPOB, CPO production in February fell 19.15 per cent to 1.29 million tonnes from 1.602 million tonnes in the preceding month.

Production of palm kernel last month decreased to 336,647 tonnes from 413,198 tonnes in January while crude palm kernel oil output declined to 161,188 tonnes from 199,807 tonnes in January.

The production of palm kernel cake dropped 19.02 per cent to 178,874 tonnes from 220,897 tonnes previously.

MPOB said palm oil exports in February fell by 13.98 per cent to 1.39 million tonnes from 1.62 million tonnes in January this year.

It said CPO imports in February rose marginally to 55,410 tonnes from 54,781 tonnes previously while imports of processed palm oil decreased 21.01 per cent to 38,731 tonnes from 49,035 tonnes in January.

The average price of fresh fruit bunches per tonne rose by 10 per cent to RM24.54 per tonne in February from RM22.31 in January, it added.