KUALA LUMPUR, May 13 (Xinhua) -- The declining palm oil stock in Malaysia is a slight positive for crude palm oil (CPO) prices, though this is offset by concerns about weakening soybean oil prices and slower global growth, a report said Monday.
CGS CIMB said in the report that Malaysia's palm oil stocks fell 7 percent month-on-month to a six-month low of 2.73 million tonnes at the end of April, which is likely to be supportive of near-term CPO prices.
Meanwhile, Malaysia's palm oil exports in April was slightly higher than forecast, and was the highest ever April exports recorded by Malaysia, suggesting that the low CPO price helped boost demand.
Malaysia's palm oil exports rose 2 percent month-on-month and 8 percent year-on-year to 1.65 million in April, boosted by stronger demand from China and India. Malaysia's palm oil exports to China jumped 17 percent month-on-month, or 48 percent year-on-year to 201,000 tonnes.
From January to April, Malaysia's palm oil exports to China surged 49 percent year-on-year to 772,000 tonnes.
CGS CIMB projected Malaysia's palm oil stocks to fall 7 percent month-on-month to 2.54 million tonnes at the end of May as exports and consumption exceed production and imports.
The research house also expected the CPO price to trade in the range of 1,900 ringgit to 2,300 ringgit per tonne in May, and maintains average CPO price forecast of 2,400 ringgit per tonne this year.
