Malaysia produced 7.549 million tonnes of crude palm oil in the first nine months of 2000. This was a decline of 60 714 t or 0.79% over production during the same period of the previous year. Monthly production for the first three months in 2000 was higher than those for the corresponding period in 1999 (Table 1). However, monthly production from April to August 2000 was much lower than those for the corresponding months in 1999. This resulted in a lower cumulative production for the first nine months in 2000, compared to production over the same period for the previous year. Thus, it is estimated that total production this year may only reach 10.33 million tonnes, i.e. a decline of 0.22 million tonnes over that of 1999. Sizable reductions in yield per tree as well as in overall production were registered in Peninsular Malaysia, as well as in Sabah and these were among factors that contributed to the decline in production.