28.03.2018 (The Borneo Post) - KUALA LUMPUR: The Crude Palm Oil (CPO) Export Scheme, which entailed the suspension of export tax on the product, has reduced the palm oil stockpile and strengthened the prices, said Plantation Industries and Commodities Deputy Minister, Datuk Datu Nasrun Datu Mansur.

He said as of Jan 31, 2018, the total palm oil stockpile fell by 6.7 per cent to 2.55 million tonnes compared with 2.73 million tonnes on Dec 31 last year.

The stockpile includes CPO and processed palm oil.

“The CPO stockpile fell by 5.7 per cent, or 59,481 tonnes, to 1.57 million tonnes from 1.67 million tonnes on Dec 31, 2017, while the processed palm oil stockpile was reduced by 88,922 tonnes to 0.97 million tonnes from 1.06 million tonnes during the same period,” he said.

Nasrun said this in reply to a question from Datuk Mohd Zaim Abu Hasan (BN-Parit) on the effectiveness of the scheme, which was implemented from Jan 8 this year.

He said palm oil exports in January 2018, however, rose by 85,515 tonnes to 1.51 million tonnes from 1.43 million tonnes on December 2017.

The average price for CPO had increased by 3.3 per cent to RM2,486.20 per tonne in January this year from RM2,408 per tonne in December 2017, he said. — Bernama