Pakistan's vegetable oil rates stayed at high levels in the domestic market over the past week on low stocks, dealers said on Wednesday.
Only about 100,000 tonnes of stocks were available, while another 30,000 to 40,000 tonnes were on their way to Pakistan, said Akber Puri, a leading importer.
"There will be a lot of demand from importers in May," he said.
Domestic stocks shrunk because of relatively lower imports in April, when around 70,000 tonnes of palm oil and palm olien were imported from Malaysia, against normal monthly imports of 90,000 to 100,000 tonnes, due to high international prices.
But a dip in world prices was now prompting importers to book fresh orders, dealers said.
Traders quoted palm olein at 1,965 rupees per mound (37.32 kg) on Wednesday - unchanged from the previous week.
Dealers said importers had booked 50,000 tonnes in May so far and they would book more in the coming days.
Pakistan imports about 1.3 million tonnes of edible oil products annually, led by palm oil, mostly from Malaysia, to help meet domestic demand of 1.9 million tonnes.
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