KUCHING: Sarawak, which recorded a lower production of crude palm oil (CPO) in October 2019, has lost its dominant position among producing states to neighbouring Sabah. Sabah’s CPO production last month stood at 475,965 tonnes (2018 Oct: 508,522 tonnes) against Sarawak’s 432,885 tonnes (445,650 tonnes) and made it as the top producing state in Malaysia.
In September and August, Sarawak produced 471,676 tonnes and 447,768 tonnes of CPO respectively and were both higher as compared to Sabah’s 437,392 tonnes and 399,160 tonnes respectively, according to monthly statistics from Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB).
The combined CPO production in Sarawak and Sabah totalled 908,850 tonnes in October 2019, which was higher than the combined production of 887,030 tonnes of states in Peninsular Malaysia.
But in October 2018, states in the peninsula together produced 1,010,782 tonnes of CPO and were ahead of Sarawak and Sabah with total output of 954,172 tonnes. There were sharp drops of outputs from Johor and Perak.
Last month, Johor produced 275,288 tonnes of CPO (2018 Oct: 312,736 tonnes), followed by Pahang 264,287 tonnes (262,858 tonnes) and Perak 141,154 tonnes (186,442 tonnes).
Malaysia’s CPO output in October was down to 1,795,880 tonnes from 1,842,433 tonnes in September and 1,821,548 tonnes in August. Total production for the first 10 months of 2019 was 16,986,449 tonnes, an increase from 15,862,881 tonnes in the corresponding period of 2018.
However, the country increased CPO exports to 344,686 tonnes worth RM720.84 million in October from 316,922 tonnes valued at RM685.96 million in September. The August figure was 326,348 tonnes worth RM724.72 million.
The exports of palm oil surged by 16.43 percent in October to 1,641,743 tonnes valued at RM3.687 billion from 1,410,023 tonnes worth RM3.187 billion in September.
Palm oil inventories dipped 4.1 percent to 2,348,066 tonnes in October, their second lowest level this year after August’s 2.25 million tonnes. The fall in stocks pushed benchmark palm oil prices to RM2,606 per tonne on Monday, the highest level since
January 2018.
On palm kernel production in October, MPOB figures shown that Sabah is the outright leader among producing states, with output of 111,500 tonnes (2018 Oct: 115,419 tonnes), beating Sarawak to the second position with production of 92,278 tonnes (93,323 tonnes).
Johor ranked third with output of 75,904 tonnes (88,829 tonnes) and Pahang finished fourth with 70,298 tonnes (68,623 tonnes).
The combined production of peninsula states was 238,826 tonnes, higher than combined Sarawak-Sabah production of 203,778 tonnes.
Malaysia’s total palm kernel production in October was 442,604 tonnes, which was lower than 485,666 tonnes a year ago. For the first 10 months, total output rose to 4,213,070 tonnes from
3,961,141 tonnes a year ago.
In crude palm kernel oil production in October, Sabah again took top position, with output of 52,250 tonnes, followed Selangor (46,254 tonnes), Johor (45,002 tonnes) and Sarawak (38,587 tonnes). The country’s total output was 217,639 tonnes, lower than 231,184 tonnes in October 2018.
Over a 10-month period, total crude palm kernel oil production was higher at 1,983,353 tonnes from 1,865,810 tonnes recorded during Jan-Oct 2018 period.
Sabah also ranked top in the production of palm kernel cake, recording 56,787 tonnes last month, followed by Selangor (51,101 tonnes) Johor (49,897 tonnes) and Sarawak 42,870 tonnes). The country’s total output was 239,212 tonnes.
Last month, Malaysia exported 291,367 tonnes of oleochemicals valued at RM1.13 billion, other palm-based finished products of 53,618 tonnes worth RM227.9 million and biodiesel 21,664 tonnes worth RM58.79 million.
