A dramatic rise in Indonesia's palm oil exports this year may mean the country's palm oil production may be higher than expected, Hamburg-based oilseeds analysts Oil World said on Tuesday.
"The sharply higher exports so far this year are a strong indication that Indonesian palm oil output in January-December 2008 will turn out above our latest estimate of 18.8 million tonnes compared with 17.0 in 2007," it said. Indonesia's January-March 2008 palm oil exports rose to 3.88 million tonnes from 2.66 million tonnes in the same time in 2007, it said. Its exports of processed palm oils rose to an additional 1.73 million tonnes from 1.66 million tonnes.
"Exports of palm oil as well as of palm kernel oil and meal sharply exceeded expectations so far this year," it said. "The impressive export pace in Indonesian palm oil shipments partly explains the lower than expected exports from Malaysia which led to an increase in Malaysian palm oil stocks to a record 2.04 million tonnes as of end-June 2008." Indonesia's palm kernel production and crushings also exceeded Oil World's expectations during the past six months.