Palm oil import up 24pc to $156m

KARACHI: Import bill of palm oil rose 24.4 percent to $156 million in December, showed Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) data on Thursday, as local demand surged.
In the same month last year, the country imported $125.41 million worth of palm oil.
The import bill of soybean oil swelled staggering five times to $1.1 million in December 2014 from $0.2 million in December 2013.
Industry sources said the imports of edible oil increased because of high demand from manufactures to ensure its availability before the month of Ramazan, which is likely to start in June.
The consumption of cooking oil sharply shoots up during Ramazan as it is used for preparation of traditional foods.
Vanaspati manufacturers, in a weekly bulletin, said a gloomy global economic outlook will bring vegetable oil prices down. Global market uncertainties weakened demand for the edible oil from top major importers, including China and India, they added.
The PBS data showed the import of soybean oil climbed 14.4 percent to $36.82 million during July-December 2014 as compared to $32.2 million in the corresponding period a year ago.
The palm oil import amounted $953 million during the first six months of the current fiscal year, up 5.1 percent over the same period in the preceding fiscal year.
Pakistan, a net importer of edible oil, spends around two billion dollars every year on its purchases from Malaysia and Indonesia at concessionary rates under the free trade agreement with the former and preferential trade agreement with the latter.