Bangladesh has imported more than 25 percent more palm oil in 2009 compared with the year earlier, despite soaring prices, a senior official in the sector said. The country last year imported more than 1.02 million tonnes of palm oil which included crude palm, crude palm olein and refined palm oil, said A.K.M. Fakhrul Alam, regional manager for Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar of the Malaysian Palm Oil Council.
"Despite price hikes, the import of palm oil rose more than 25 percent in 2009," he told Reuters on Saturday. "The growth of import of edible oil in Bangladesh demonstrates that the buying capacity and habit of Bangladeshis to consume oil, a vital nutrition, have increased," Fakhrul said.
Per capita income of Bangladeshi citizens rose 15.19 percent to $690 in the fiscal year to June 2009, from $599 in the previous year, while the economy grew at more than six percent over the last few years, officials said. Bangladesh on average consumes 100,000-110,000 tonnes of edible oils per month, over 70 percent of it palm oil and the rest soyabean and canola/mustard oil, Fakhrul said. The offer of a new credit line announced during a conference of Malaysian Palm Oil Council held recently in Dhaka to support further market expansion of Malaysian palm oil in Bangladesh, will further boost imports.
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