Malaysian palm oil output forecast cut

19/05/2009 (Business Times, India), Hamburg - Malaysian October 2008/September 2009 palm oil output is likely to reach only 17.8 million tonnes Hamburg-based oilseeds analysts Oil World forecast yesterday.

This was down from its previous estimate of 18.0 million tonnes.

The cut was made following surprisingly low Malaysian output in April, Oil World said. But Malaysian output would still be up on the 17.5 million tonnes produced in 2007/08.

Malaysia and Indonesian are the world’s leading palm oil exporters.

“We still expect Malaysian production to surpass the year-ago level in coming months but the increase anticipated for the full season is sharply below average at only one per cent,” it said.

“The sharp seasonal growth of production next quarter should allow a recovery of Malaysian palm oil stocks from the current low level to roughly 1.6 million tonnes by end-September, still down sharply from 1.95 million tonnes the year before.”

Malaysian April palm oil stocks were estimated on May 11 at 1.29 million tonnes by the country’s palm oil board.

Oil World’s October/September 2008/09 Indonesian palm oil production estimate remains unchanged at 20.2 to 20.3 million tonnes, up seven per cent on the season but again below the growth seen in recent years.

“World demand for palm oil continues to grow sharply this season, despite the production slowdown in Malaysia and Indonesia,” it said. “We forecast an increase in world consumption by 3.9 million tonnes this season, partly to compensate for the pronounced decline in soyoil supplies and use.” - Reuters

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