Malaysian palm oil production increased from 11.355 million tonnes in 2003 to 13.976 million tonnes in 2004, i.e. by 4.65% (Table 1). This was a small increase compared to that of 2002 of 12.14% due to the palms being stressed after four years of high production. The lower increase in production was also due to the large area of young palms coming into bearing. Thus, the yield of palm oil per hectare declined from 3.75 t in 2003 to 3.73 t in 2004.