Malaysian palm oil output to rise 3% in 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Palm oil production in Malaysia, the world’s No. 2 producer of the commodity, will rise by 3% in 2018, an industry body forecast today.
The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) expects production to climb to 20.5 million tonnes from 19.9 million tonnes in 2017, the group’s director-general, Datuk Ahmad Kushairi, said at an industry conference here.
“We expect momentum will still be there, that’s why we are forecasting production will be moving forward,” he said.
Malaysian production of the edible oil is widely expected to rise this year as fields continue to recover from the dry weather effects of a 2015 El Nino. The weather pattern can impact fruit yields for up to two years.
Malaysia’s exports are expected to increase 5.1% to 17.4 million tonnes this year, though a stronger ringgit will be a “challenge”, Ahmad said.
MPOB expects the country’s palm oil stockpiles to drop 15.8% to 2.3 million tonnes in 2018, potentially supporting prices. Palm oil stockpiles in Malaysia climbed to their highest in over two years at the end of December.
Earlier, an industry analyst said global palm oil production is expected to rise by 5 million to 6 million tonnes in 2018, slower than last year’s growth of 8 million tonnes.
James Fry, chairman of commodities consultancy LMC International, said “2018 output will be 5-6 million tonnes above the 2017 total, led by Indonesia”, he told Reuters before his speech.