Pakistan's edible oil imports have been slow over the past week because of sufficient domestic stocks and rising international prices, but dealers said on Wednesday imports could rise in coming weeks. "The demand locally is not very high, and most of the trade is being done on the futures counters," said Muhammad Anas, a Karachi-based dealer.
Demand was also lower because of the hot weather as Pakistanis consume less edible oil during the summer, he said.
Dealers said low international prices had kept buyers active in recent weeks but the activity slowed down once prices started to rise. "Buying is still there but it has slowed down in the last week or so," said Akbar Puri, another edible oil dealer.
He said there was still room for more imports as domestic prices were still higher than international prices. "Any small dip in international prices will prompt buying as international prices are still attractive," he said.
Pakistan imports about 1.3 million tonnes of edible oil products a year, most of it Malaysian palm oil and olein, to meet domestic demand of 1.9 million tonnes.
Locally produced cottonseed meets the rest of the demand.
Dealers quoted palm olein at 1,625 rupees per maund (37.32 kg), 25 rupees down from the previous week.