PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s crude palm oil (CPO) stocks fell 7.7% to 786,828 tonnes in January 2022 from 852,339 tonnes in December 2021 amid lower production, said the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB).

       Total palm oil inventory slipped 3.9% month-on-month (m-o-m) to 1.55 million tonnes from 1.61 million tonnes, with processed palm oil inventory rising by a marginal 0.5% to 765,586 tonnes from 761,717 tonnes previously.

       In a statement, MPOB said CPO production shrank 13.5% to 1.25 million tonnes from 1.45 million tonnes in December 2021.

       Meanwhile, palm kernel output dropped 11.8% m-o-m to 309,120 tonnes from 350,493 tonnes, and crude palm kernel oil production was 9.11% lower at 153,173 tonnes versus 168,529 tonnes previously.

       MPOB said palm oil exports dipped 18.7% to 1.16 million tonnes in January 2022 from 1.42 million tonnes in the preceding month, while palm kernel oil exports dropped 12.4% to 82,667 tonnes compared to 94,349 tonnes previously.

       Oleochemical exports were also lower by 4.3% at 231,171 tonnes against 241,469 tonnes in December 2021, while biodiesel exports soared 91.5% to 29,375 tonnes from 15,339 tonnes.

       Meanwhile, Malaysia’s natural rubber production increased by 36.7% to 41,690 tonnes in December 2021 compared with November’s 30,493 tonnes, said the Statistics Department.

       In its December 2021 monthly rubber statistics publication released yesterday, the department said on a year-on-year comparison, natural rubber declined by 16.3% against 49,825 tonnes in December 2020.

       Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said December’s natural rubber production was mainly contributed by the smallholders sector (91%) versus the estate sector (9%).

       He said total stocks of natural rubber increased 5.9% to 285,208 tonnes in December 2021 compared to 269,421 tonnes in November 2021.

       “Rubber processors factories contributed 91.8% of the stocks followed by rubber consumer factories (8.1%) and rubber estates (0.1%).

       Exports shrunk by 24.5% to 45,982 tonnes in December 2021 against 60,942 tonnes a month ago.

       China continued to be the biggest natural rubber importer, taking up 41.5% of total exports in December 2021, followed by Finland (10.7%), Pakistan (4.2%), Turkey (3.2%) and Germany (2.5%), said Mohd Uzir.

       Gloves formed the bulk of rubber-based exports valued at RM2.3bil in December 2021, a decline of 6.5% compared with RM2.5bil in the preceding month, he said. — Bernama