9/11/05 (Reuters) - Malaysia's 2006 calendar-year palm oil output is forecast to rise to 15.6 million tonnes from a likely 15.14 million tonnes in 2005, Hamburg-based oilseeds analyst Oil World said in its first preliminary estimate of the country's production.

But this is a reduction in the rapid rate of growth which has seen Malaysian palm oil output rise from 13.97 million tonnes in 2004 and only 11.91 million tonnes in 2002, it said.

It expected an average fall in palm yields of 2% in 2006.

"We expect output to stagnate at around 8.65 million tonnes in West Malaysia but a continued rise in Sabah and Sarawak to a combined 6.95 million tonnes in January/December 2006, up 7% from 2005," it said.

Recent increases in Malaysia's output were largely caused by sizeable growth in the area of mature trees and record high yields, it said.

But below-normal rainfall has affected palms in January to September 2005, cutting likely production in the last months of 2005, Oil World said.

"In October/December 2005 we expect a moderate year-on-year decline in total Malaysian crude palm oil output by 1% to 3.88 million tonnes," it said. - Reuters