HAMBURG: Pakistani importers have in recent weeks purchased about 65,000 tonnes of soybeans to be sourced from the United States and more than 100,000 tonnes of rapeseed with the Black Sea region seen as the likely source, European traders said on Thursday.
The soybeans are for shipment in September and the rapeseed was purchased in several consignments between the end of April and this week, they said.
Rapeseed shipment is in July/August and the oilseed is expected to be sourced from the Black Sea but with options to ship from Australia and Canada, the traders added.
Pakistan has been a heavy buyer of soybeans from North and South America in recent months. Strong demand for unprocessed beans has been created by higher import duties on processed soymeal.
Traders said they believed that Pakistani importers may have also purchased two further shipments of similar sizes of soybeans likely to be sourced in the United States, one for August/September shipment and one for October shipment. But one of these deals includes Brazil as a possible origin, so it may be sourced in South America.
Pakistani importers could continue soybean purchases in the coming months.
"Pakistan is buying an average of 100,000 to 120,000 tonnes of soybeans monthly, largely from Brazil and the United States," one trader said.
"It is possible that Pakistan's imports of soybeans could reach 1.2 million tonnes during January to December 2017."
This would be a similar level to 2016 soybean imports, which in turn were up from only 579,000 tonnes in 2015.
More purchases of rapeseed/canola are also expected, with talk of deals for Canadian new-crop canola.
"The rapeseed bought in the past couple of weeks is expected to be sourced from the Black Sea region as rapeseed from countries such as Ukraine and Romania is currently up to $20 a tonne cheaper than Canadian canola and has good oil content levels," one trader said. "However, Canadian canola has better meal yields."
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