Pakistan's palm oil imports have slowed down as soft world prices discouraged importers from placing fresh orders, dealers said on Wednesday. They said the importers would first wait to see where the palm oil prices in Malaysia are heading.
"The importers are cautiously waiting for the bearish spell in Malaysia to hit bottom before entering the market," said Zia Ahmed, a dealer in the southern port city of Karachi.
The Malaysian market has been dragged down largely due to weaker Chicago soyaoil futures.
"Importers are now waiting for prices to settle at a stable level to place new orders as the C&F prices to Karachi are also down at least by five dollars," Ahmed said.
The palm olein prices in the local market fell by 10 rupees to 1,650 rupees per maund (37.32 kg).
Traders said local palm oil supplies were satisfactory with stocks standing around 100,000 tonnes and demand slower in the Pakistan summer.
Pakistan imports about 800,000 tonnes of oilseed and about 1.3 million tonnes of edible oil products annually, led by palm oil and palm olein. The country's annual domestic demand is 1.9 million tonnes.
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