KARACHI: Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturers Association (PVMA) Chairman Atif Ikram Sheikh has asked the Malaysian palm oil exporters to regain the Pakistani palm oil market of 200 million people by lowering the prices.
Talking to a delegation of Malaysian palm oil exporters here on Tuesday, he said that Pakistan is one of the largest markets of edible oil. Cooking oil industry of Pakistan is performing extra-ordinarily by fulfilling 100 percent national requirement of around 3.2 million metric tons, besides contributing Rs 100 billion to national exchequer directly and indirectly in the shape of duty, taxes and other levies.
He informed that an edible oil refinery has been set up at the Port Qasim, Karachi, which has production capacity of 4.5 million metric tons, it can be utilised by enhancing exports to Afghanistan and Central Asian Republics provided the government should remove restrictive measures on export of the products.
He said that Indonesia is offering cheap prices of palm oil as compared to Malaysia, that’s why the balance is shifting towards Indonesia. Indonesian exporters are also offering many other incentives regarding the trade of palm oil. Malaysian exporters are also in a position to offer the same price and incentives to Pakistan, he added.
He said that, a recently released USDA report on palm oil mentioned that the more well-off consumers are shifting from hydrogenated oil to soft oil for health reasons. It expects Pakistan’s total oil consumption for next year at a record 3.8 million metric tons- a 3.5 percent increase over the current year.
The Chairman PVMA said that Pakistani traders can import bulk quantity of palm oil on a negotiable price formula agreed between the suppliers. Pakistanis will always prefer to buy palm oil from Malaysia.
Malaysian delegation who is visiting to discuss the price and allied issues causing declining trend of palm oil imports to Pakistan.
The Malaysian exporters were of the view that they want to push Malaysia back in to the Pakistani market.
During the meeting, it was resolved to address key issues in sequence to promote bilateral trade specially export of palm oil to Pakistan.
The delegation underscored the need to strengthen people-to-people and business communities linkages between both the countries as huge potential of enhancing trade exists between Pakistan- Malaysia.
