Palm oil stocks in Malaysia fell 4.1% month on month or 13.75% year on year to 2.348 million mt in October, data released by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board Monday showed.
"MPOB's October report was far more bullish than expected," Sathia Varqa, owner and co-founder of Singapore-based Palm Oil Analytics.
"Market expectation was for a marginal rise of between 1% to 3.7%. Stronger-than-expected exports shooting up to 16.43% to 1.641 million mt against much lower than usual production drove stocks lower," he added.
Earlier, CGS-CIMB Securities in a note dated November 1, estimated Malaysia's palm oil inventory likely rose 1% month on month but fell 9% year on year to 2.48 million mt at end-Oct 2019.
Malaysian palm oil production in October fell 2.53% month on month to 1.795 million mt, while exports climbed, according to MPOB data.
October palm oil exports jumped 16.43% month on month to 1.641 million mt and 4.02% higher year on year with China and Europe soaking up exports.
Palm oil shipments to China soared 23.78% month on month to 275,442 mt while cargoes to India slumped 29.19% month on month to 219,956 mt but were 121% higher year on year. Shipments to EU were up 42.36% at 209,031 mt. Exports to Pakistan fell 31.58% month on month to 81,618 mt.
Meanwhile, October exports of palm methyl ester fell to 21,664 mt from 54,735 mt in September as cold winter in Europe and China froze demand for PME for blending.
European buyers were expected to return at January for next year cargoes, said market sources.
