11/05/2010 (The Star Online), Petaling Jaya - Malaysia's palm oil stocks fell 2% in April versus March amid declining production.

The latest statistics from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) yesterday showed that inventories fell to 1.62 million tonnes in April from 1.66 million a month earlier.

Inventories of crude palm oil (CPO) declined 0.53% to 845,472 from 850,008 tonnes in March while processed palm oil stock fell to 777,066 from 805,740 tonnes previously.

 An analyst told StarBiz that the drop in the palm oil stocks was slightly less than market expectations.

“Market observers had expected a drop of 4% but the MPOB data showed it was just 2%. I think it (the fall) is not a big issue as it involved a small gap difference,” she said.

The country's palm oil exports hit 1.28 million tonnes in April, down 8.17% from March when the figure was 1.4 million tonnes, according to MPOB data.

Bloomberg reported that the official export data were higher than the forecasts of two independent cargo surveyors. The preliminary estimate from Societe Generale de Surveillance was 1.22 million tonnes while Intertek had it 1.18 million tonnes, it said.

According to MPOB, production fell 5.8% to 1.306 million tonnes in April from 1.387 million in March.

Crude palm kernel oil production fell to 160,377 tonnes from 170,369 tonnes while palm kernel cake production declined to 179,850 from 189,371 tonnes.

The MPOB data also showed that oleochemical exports fell 9% to 174,619 from 192,242 tonnes.