KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's total palm oil stocks fell 4.09 per cent to 2.19 million tonnes in December last year from the 2.29 million tonnes recorded the month before.

The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB), in its industry performance report for December 2022, said that crude palm oil (CPO) stocks decreased by 0.87 per cent to 1.29 million tonnes in December from 1.30 million tonnes in November.

Processed palm oil stocks lost 8.36 per cent to 902,643 tonnes from 984,936 tonnes previously.

CPO production dropped 3.68 per cent to 1.62 million tonnes in December from 1.68 million tonnes in November while palm kernel output was 2.00 per cent lower at 399,446 tonnes.

"Palm oil exports decreased by 3.48 per cent in December to 1.47 million tonnes from 1.52 million tonnes in November while exports of oleo-chemicals inched up 0.19 per cent to 228,018 tonnes compared with 227,576 tonnes," it said.

MPOB said biodiesel exports in December slid 17.14 per cent to 15,002 tonnes from the preceding month while exports of palm kernel cake bounced 22.45 per cent to 222,427 tonnes from 181,642 tonnes.

Palm kernel oil exports jumped 70.70 per cent in December to 134,429 tonnes from November.

CPO imports in December increased 34.52 per cent month-on-month (m-o-m) to 15,453 tonnes against 11,488 tonnes in the previous month while total palm oil imports added 0.14 per cent m-o-m to 47,114 tonnes from the preceding month.