By Razi Syed

KARACHI: The import of palm olein will increase around 25 percent in coming two months on the back of growing domestic demand as the international prices of palm oil surged around $50 per tonne to $890 per tonne, the importers and millers said on Wednesday.

They said importer would pay around Rs 15-20 per kg more as Malaysian crude palm oil futures surged to hit a new high on increase in exports.

In May, palm oil accounted for more than five percent of Malaysia’s total export shipments, according to the exporters and economic experts.

Pakistan imported around $892 million worth of palm oil during July-June 2007 as against $717 million in the same period last year.

A senior member of Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturers Association (PVMA), Nasir Ibrahim said the import during June 2007 witnessed a decline around 3.39 percent against import in May 2007, which stood at 122,059 metric tonnes.

“This was due to the low domestic demand and higher prices in international market besides a breather for the importers as it is going to rise on the back of Ramadan’s demand,” Mr Ibrahim added.

He contributed the increase in import despite higher international prices of the commodity to the lower than expected yield of cottonseed in the country.

Pakistan imported around 1.68 million tonnes of edible oil from Malaysia during July 2006-June 07, which included 35 percent of crude oil as compared to around 1.66 million tonnes in July 2005-June 06.

He said, “We are presently paying around Rs 12,500 a tonne C & F more in shape of duties to the government on imports of palm oil than in 1997.”

The importer has to pay around 45 percent duty on import value besides paying 50 percent import landing tax to the government, he added.

He said palm oil shipments bound for top Asian consumers such as China, India and Pakistan have also contributed to June’s rise.

Malaysian palm oil prices surged 40 percent in 2006, boosted by biodiesel demand, and analysts expect the market to rise around 20 percent this year.

“We believe there will be an increase in import orders as we are expecting lesser yield of cottonseed this year, which is a major source of edible oil production,” he said, adding that extraction of oil from 100 kilogramme of cottonseed was around 40 kilogramme.

Pakistan imports mostly Malaysian palm oil and olein to meet domestic demand of 1.99 million tonnes, as locally produced cottonseed meets the rest of the demand. Edible oil import costs around $ 985 million every year.

The country consumes around 1.95 million tonnes of edible oil every year out of which 0.59 million tonnes is contributed by the local growers while the remaining is imported to bridge the demand-supply ratio.

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