Indonesia overtakes Malaysia in palm oil

KOTA KINABALU, Malaysia -- Indonesia likely overtook Malaysia as the world's top palm oil producer in 2007, due to dramatically increased area under plantation, Malaysia said Monday.

"From preliminary figures in 2007 it looks like Indonesia has already overtaken us in terms of production," Plantation and Commodities Minister Peter Chin told reporters.

Chin said Malaysia was still the world's top exporter but that Indonesia was "very close behind" and would probably claim top status in 2008.

Malaysia produced 15.82 million tonnes of crude palm oil last year, and earned 45.2 billion ringgit (US$14.1 billion) in export revenue.

AFP