9/10/05 KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia’s palm oil output is expectedto have risen 5.2 percent in September over August, slightly lower thanearlier forecasts of 5.7 percent, but the figure is still a record,plantations said.

Stocks of crude and refined palm oil in the world’s largest producingcountry are estimated to have risen 7.9 percent by end-September fromend-August, a Reuters survey of five plantation houses showed on Friday.

An earlier Reuters poll on Sept. 22 put stocks for last month at 6.5percent higher than August. “I think the higher stock level is because thedomestic disappearance is lower than we thought earlier,” said an analystat one plantation house. Domestic disappearance refers to use of oil bylocal industries.

The latest estimate on domestic use in September was 157,868 tonnescompared with the 188,868 tonnes forecast on Sept. 22. The median forSeptember production was 1.43 million tonnes. In the Sept. 22 survey, itwas 1.44 million. August production was a record 1.36 million tonnes.

But September’s will be even higher due to heavy rains in the eastMalaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, which contribute about 40 percentof national production, analysts said.

Palm oil exports for last month were seen at 1.2 million tonnes, up 2.7percent from August. Imports from neighbouring Indonesia to supplementlocal refiners’ needs were estimated at 30,000 tonnes, down from theprevious survey’s estimate of 35,000 tonnes. The government-run MalaysianPalm Oil Board will release on Monday official figures for September.reuters