January palm oil stocks down 12.38% to 2.31m tonnes

Industry players and analysts had anticipated that the CPO export tax would resume in March given the recovery in the locally delivered CPO prices currently hovering at RM2,290-RM2,300 per tonne.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's palm oil stocks in January 2016 slipped 12.38% to 2.31 million tonnes against 2.63 million tonnes in December 2015, said the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) on its website.

Crude palm oil (CPO) stocks for January 2016 declined 18.28% to 1.30 million tonnes against 1.59 million tonnes at end-December.

Processed palm oil stocks eased 3.35% to 1.01 million tonnes in January, it said.

Total CPO production dropped 19.26% to 1.13 million tonnes in January from 1.40 million tonnes a month earlier.

MPOB also said exports of biodiesel and palm oil fell in January 2016. Exports of biodiesel slumped 99.40% to a mere 61 tonnes against 10,004 tonnes the previous month. Palm oil exports eased 13.82% to 1.28 million tonnes compared with 1.48 million tonnes in December, it said.

Imports of CPO in January declined 54% to 7,003 tonnes versus the previous month while palm oil imports decreased 56.11% to 36,642 tonnes. - Bernama