July-April period: Palm oil imports hit $1.891bn mark

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: The country's palm oil import hit $1.891 billion mark during the first 10 months of current fiscal year, rising by over 18 percent or $292 million, the official statistics said.

The country's import of palm oil during the first 10 months of last fiscal year stood at $1.599 billion, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics said.

In terms of volume, Pakistan imported 1.687 million metric tons of palm oil in the July-April period of the current fiscal year, as compared to the import of 1.605 million metric tons of oil in the same period of last fiscal year, showing an increase of 5.11 percent or 82,115 metric tons, the figures said.  Palm oil import however remained lower by 11.28 percent or 19864 in terms of volume to 156283 metric tons in April 2012 as compared to import of 176147 metric tons of oil in April 2011, the statistics said.

In terms of value, the country made import of palm oil worth $158.283 million in April 2012 as compared to $221.179 million in April 2011, depicting a decline of 22 percent or $62.896 million, according to the figures.

Traders said Pakistan imports palm oil primarily from Indonesia and Malaysia to meet the local demand.