Palm oil imports fall 9pc to $1.705bn

ISLAMABAD: The palm oil imports into the country witnessed negative growth of 9.66 percent during the first eleven months of the fiscal year (2018-19) as against the imports of same period of last year.

The palm oil imports into the country during July-May (2018-19) were recorded at $1705.861 million against the imports of $1888.321 million during July-May (2017-18), showing declined of 9.66 percent, according to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.

In terms of quantity, Pakistan imported 2,892,044 metric tons of palm oil during the period under review compared to the imports of 2,619,838 metric tons last year, showing increase of 10.39 percent.

On the other hand, the soyabean oil imports into the country also decreased by 28.83 percent by going down from $125.184 million last year to $89.091 during the period under review.

In terms of quantity, the soyabean oil imports decreased from 143,331 metric tons to 124,580 metric tons, showing decline of 13.08 percent.

Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the palm oil imports into the country however witnessed increased by 4.77 percent in May 2019 compared to the imports of May 2018.

The palm oil imports were recorded at $166.701 million in May 2019 against the imports of $159.114 million in May 2018, the PBS data revealed.

On month-on-month basis, the palm oil imports into the country increased by 8.90 percent in May 2019 when compared to the imports of $153.084 million in April 2019.

Similarly, the soyabean imports on year-on-year basis increased by 109.02 percent, from $4.768 million in May 2018 to $9.966 million in May 2019.

On month-on-month basis, the soyabean imports witnessed decrease of 6.15 percent in May 2019 when compared to the imports of $10.619 million in April 2019, according to the data.