Malaysian CPO stockpiles in December were reported slightly above the higher limit of analyst predictions at 2.73 million mt, a rise of 7% month on month from November, official palm oil data released by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board showed on Wednesday.
Market analysts had been predicting December CPO stocks between 2.5 million mt and 2.7 million mt.
December palm oil exports from Malaysia, which were pegged higher on data from cargo surveyors ITS and SGS, did not disappoint, rising 4.9% month on month to reach 1.42 million mt during December.
The rise in palm oil exports was driven by European buyers, especially Italy, which imported 46,511 mt in December, up from 12,576 mt in November.
Other countries that imported substantially increased volumes of palm oil included Australia, Bangladesh, Egypt, South Korea and Turkey.
Indian buyers imported 7% more palm oil from Malaysia in December at 107,122 mt from 100,161 mt in November.
Meanwhile, ITS export data released on Wednesday showed that Malaysia shipped 1.4% less palm oil at 359,346 mt during January 1-10, down from 364,277 mt shipped December 1-10.
Production in Malaysia during December was down 5.6% at 1.83 million mt.
December is generally a natural low production time for the palm trees and lower production generally continues until March.
PME shipped out during December stood at 14,220 mt, which was higher than the 9,087 mt shipping during November.
ITS data for December had indicated only 11,200 mt of PME shipped from Malaysia, the bulk of it coming from the port of Pasir Gudang -- from a large producer that regularly exports to Europe, sources say.
