12/01/2016 (Bernama) - Malaysia's total palm oil stocks in December 2015 fell 9.53 per cent to 2.63 million tonnes in November but were 23.57 per cent higher when compared with stocks of 2.01 million tonnes registered at end-December 2014.

The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) said crude palm oil (CPO) stocks also eased 9.13 per cent to 1.59 million tonnes while processed palm oil stocks dropped 10.14 per cent to 1.04 million tonnes.

The board said CPO production in December 2015 fell 15.39 per cent to 1.4 million tonnes from 1.65 million tonnes in November.

Palm kernel production dropped by 13 per cent to 343,829 tonnes in December from 395,211 tonnes previously, it said in a statement today.

It said exports of biodiesel for December surged by 12,144.93 per cent, or 9,922 tonnes, from 82 tonnes in the previous month.

Palm oil exports in December fell 1.09 per cent to 1.48 million tonnes as compared to 1.5 million tonnes in November, while exports of oleochemicals increased 1.47 per cent to 244,297 tonnes in December from 240,758 tonnes previously, it said.

Meanwhile, it said imports of CPO for December slumped 36.76 per cent to 15,225 tonnes compared to 24,076 tonnes in the previous month, while total palm oil imports decreased 32.28 per cent to 82,493 tonnes from November's 121,819 tonnes.

The average price of fresh fruit bunches per tonne rose 3.03 per cent to RM23.12 per tonne in December from RM22.44 in November, it added.