Malaysia produced 8.649 million tonnes of crude palm oil (CPO) in the first nine months of 2001. This was an increase of 1.098 million tonnes or 14.54% over the production in the same period the previous year. Monthly production for the first eight months in 2001 was higher than that of the corresponding period in 2000 (Table 1). However, production in September 2001 was lower than that of the corresponding month by nearly 10 000 t. This was not sufficient to reduce the cumulative production of the first nine months of 2001 against that of the same period in 2000. Actual production for the first nine months of 2001 of 8.649 million tonnes exceeded the forecast production for the same period (8.197 million tonnes) by 452 000 t or by 5.5%. From the increased production observed during January to September, it is estimated that production in 2001 may reach 11.6 million tonnes, an increase from the forecast of 11.21 million tonnes made earlier.