Traders said buyers shrugged off news last week that some coconut oil mills in the Philippines temporarily shut down operations because of high stocks in Rotterdam.

"We have not sensed any panic yet. We have been reporting low production in recent months but oil shipments keep moving (to Rotterdam)," said a senior Manila trader, referring to the relatively high exports from the Philippines.

"There is a (coconut oil) stockpile equal to four months consumption in Europe right now so buyers are not in a hurry to buy," he added.

The Philippines, the world's largest exporter of coconut oil, shipped out some 1.11 million tonnes of the commodity in the first 11 months of the year, according to preliminary data from the United Coconut Associations of the Philippines Inc.

Exports in the first 11 months of 1997 reached 926,463 tonnes.

Lastweek, traders said the Philippine unit of US-based Cargill Inc and food and beverage giant San Miguel Corp have temporarily stopped operations of their coconut oil mills due to lack of coconuts.

They said the plants, located in southern Mindanao island, have a combined capacity of up to 1,200 tonnes of copra a day or 600 tonnes of coconut oil.

Copra is the raw material in coconut oil.

Traders blamed the drought earlier this year to the tightness in copra supply in recent weeks.

But traders said they expected copra supply to ease for the rest of the month on hopes farmers would sell their stocks to have money for the Christmas holidays.

Coconut oil fell between five and $7.50 per tonne CIF on Friday compared to the previous day, with shipment for January/February quoted at $760.