‘Pakistan has sufficient stocks of edible oil’

KARACHI: The meeting of prime minister's task force on supply of palm oil chaired by commerce minister Syed Naveed Qamar on Saturday noted that the edible oil stocks in the country are sufficient for next two months consumption and there is no need for panic buying or hoarding.

However, it recommended pre-emptive measures to manage the supply chain.

The minister held the first meeting of the task force on emergent basis to deliberate on the situation emerging after the ban by Indonesia on palm oil supply to different countries.Senior government officials and representatives of Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturers Association attended the meeting.Commerce minister informed the meeting that he had talked to his Indonesian counterpart about the ban on palm oil supply and got very positive response.

He was hopeful that very soon the supply would be restored. "Pakistan government wanted intervention that at least booked stocks for Pakistan be released and shipped by Indonesian government," he said.

The minister said the government and vanaspati manufacturers would jointly work on finding the solutions to avert a shortfall, which would include looking for alternate and diversified sources of edible oil supply.

PVMA representatives assured full cooperation to ensure supply of this basic commodity at fair price.

The meeting was unanimous that the government and the private sector should work on long-term solutions for availability of edible oil at lower possible price. PVMA proposed the formation of Edible Oil Council to develop this important sector in very organized manner.