Palm oil output down on El Nino

Production to rise: Oil plam production in the second half is expected to be better than the first half this year. – AFP

PALM oil production in Malaysia will probably drop 10% this year after El Nino cut yields in the first half, according to Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Mah Siew Keong.

Annual output will be lower even after a recovery in production in the second half, Mah says in an interview in Putrajaya. The world’s second-largest grower produced 19.96 million tonnes of crude palm oil in 2015, according to Malaysian Palm Oil Board data. A 10% drop would mean supply of about 17.96 million tonnes, the lowest since 2010, the data show.