Pakistan's vegetable oil imports languished this week as buyers remained on the sidelines, waiting for soft prices in Malaysia to settle and due to a rise in domestic cottonseed supplies, dealers said on Wednesday. "With the increase of cottonseed supplies and a weak international market, imports are likely to remain slow," said Zia-ul Haq, a dealer at brokerage firm Saulat Enterprises.
He said higher cottonseed arrivals had been the major driving force behind lower imports of palm oil and olein.
Dealers say cottonseed output could touch 550,000 tonnes, up from last year's 400,000.
Domestic cottonseed is one of Pakistan's major sources of vegetable oil, which is mixed or blended with palm oil and soyoil.
The expected increase in cottonseed output is because of a big cotton crop this year. Pakistan has officially projected the crop at 12.1-12.8 million bales (375 lb each) in the 2004/05 (April-February) crop year.
Dealers said importers were also awaiting the bearish spell in Malaysia to hit its lows before entering the market.
"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 $10 to $12 over the last two weeks," another dealer said.
Palm oil prices on the domestic market had fallen by 70-75 rupees and were in a range between 1,580 and 1590, rupees per maund (37.32 kg).
The Malaysian market has been dragged down largely due to depressed export estimates for November.
Pakistan imports about 800,000 tonnes of oilseeds and about 1.3 million tonnes of edible oil products annually, led by palm oil and palm olein.
The country's annual demand is 1.9 million tonnes.
Palm olein prices in the local market were quoted at 1,580 rupees per maund (37.32 kg), down from 1,650 last week.