Pakistan's edible oil imports are likely to remain slow in the coming week as importers become more cautious about falling international prices, dealers said on Wednesday. "Prices have again fallen in Malaysia, which will make importers more cautious," said Anas Ahmad, a dealer at Karachi's vegoil brokers Saulat Enterprises.
Malaysian crude palm oil futures fell more than one percent on Wednesday as the market tracked sharp falls in rival US soyoil.
The benchmark third-month crude palm oil contract on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives, April, settled down 16 ringgit, or 1.3 percent, at 1,258 ringgit ($331.05) a tonne.
Ahmad said Pakistan imported 69,000 tonnes of palm oil in January, sharply down from a monthly average of 90,000 to 100,000 tonnes. He said uncertainty over prices could reduce imports further in the days ahead.
Dealers said traders were worried about a large-build up of stocks in Malaysia due to lower exports, which could drag out the bearish trend. "Importers want to see where the prices will settle," another Karachi based dealer said.
He added that in February, buying would mostly be in small quantities because importers would not risk buying too much in advance.
Dealers said the Pakistani market could see some good buying in March as domestically produced cotton seed oil supplies would be exhausted by the end of February.
Pakistan produced around 580,000 tonnes of cottonseed this season, up from the previous year's 400,000, on the back of a big cotton crop in 2004/05 (April-Feb).
Domestic cottonseed is one of Pakistan's major sources of vegetable oil.