Wednesday July 27, 2005 - MALAYSIA may produce 14.9 million tonnes ofpalm oil this year, Malaysian Palm Oil Association (MPOA) chief executiveAziz Meor Ngah said in an interview.

That is 6.7% higher than last year's output, and higher than an earlierforecast of 14.2 million tonnes made in April by MPOB official RamliAbdullah.

Malaysia produced 13.97 million tonnes last year, according to MPOB data.

"Up to the first half of the year, the yield has gone up higher than lastyear,'' Azizi said.

"It will pick up again in October, November. My forecast is it should behitting 14.9 million tonnes by the year-end.''

Malaysia and Indonesia produce 80% of the world's palm oil. Indonesiaexported 8.66 million tonnes of palm oil last year. Malaysia exported 12.6million. - Bloomberg