KUALA LUMPUR, April 10 — Malaysia's total palm oil stocks rose 1.67 per cent to 1.72 million tonnes in March 2020 from 1.70 million tonnes in February 2020.

The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB), in a statement today, said crude palm oil (CPO) stock dropped by 2.57 per cent to 829,524 tonnes from 851,427 tonnes previously.

Meanwhile, processed palm oil stock added 5.92 per cent to 899,057 tonnes in March 2020 from 848,830 tonnes in the previous month.

Furthermore, CPO production increased by 8.44 per cent to 1.39 million tonnes from 1.28 million tones in February.

Palm kernel output was 5.8 per cent higher at 351,058 tonnes from 331,808 tonnes.

The MPOB said palm oil exports strengthened 9.15 per cent in March 2020 to 1.18 million tonnes from 1.08 million tonnes in February 2020.

Exports of palm kernel cake perked 83.47 per cent to 216,453 tonnes from 117,977 tonnes, while biodiesel exports for the month under review jumped 213.56 per cent to 68,324 tonnes from 21,790 tonnes.

Palm kernel oil exports firmed 4.85 per cent in March 2020 to 77,481 tonnes from 73,898 tonnes in the preceding month.

Exports of oleochemicals also increased 3.96 per cent to 260,957 tonnes from the previous month's 251,016 tonnes.

The MPOB said CPO imports, however, went down 26.01 per cent to 27,637 tones during the month from 37,351 tonnes in February 2020.

Meanwhile, total palm oil imports improved 12.77 per cent to 75,258 tonnes from 66,735 tonnes previously, it added. — Bernama