India retained its position as the top destination, absorbing an additional 13.62% year-on-year. Its volume of 3.69 million tonnes made up 21.27% of Malaysia’s palm oil exports. Intake by the EU-28, South Africa, Turkey and The Philippines also went up.
China/HK imported 2.39 million tonnes, showing a decline of 16.3%. This was mainly because of increased domestic crushing, with soybean imports estimated at about 90 million tonnes against 70 million tonnes a year earlier. USA took up 703,482 tonnes, which was a drop of 10.17%, but it kept its place among the five biggest importing countries.
CPO and processed palm oil exports increased to 17.45 million tonnes from 17.31 million tonnes a year earlier (Table 4).
The annual average local delivered CPO price decreased by RM226 (9.48%) to RM2,157.50 per tonne, against RM2,383.50 previously (Table 5). This was reflective of the overall downturn in global oils and fats prices, coupled with high stock levels in Malaysia in the third and fourth quarters of 2015.
The average export prices of RBD palm oil and RBD palm olein fell respectively to US$586 (by 23.25%) and US$585.50 (by 23.41%) per tonne, echoing the downward price sentiments of CPO. Similarly, the price of RBD palm stearin and Palm Fatty Acid Distillates declined respectively to US$531 (by 29.25%) and US$500.50 (by 29.95%) per tonne.
Export earnings from palm-based products fell by 5.42% to RM60.17 billion (Table 6), largely because of lower prices of oils and fats. Sales of palm oil fell by 7.28%, as did palm kernel oil (by 2.91%) and palm kernel cake (by 25.9%). However, processed products brought in higher returns – biodiesel by 87.89%, finished products by 0.59% and oleochemicals by 0.03%.
