Minister for States and Frontier Regions, Lieutenant General Abdul Qadir Bloch (retired) said on Saturday that due to efforts of the present government, security situation in the country has improved and Pakistan is now secure for the investment. "Pakistan has been aggressively fighting against the terrorism for many years and conducted several combat operations across the country to eliminate the terrorists and bring peace to the country," he said, addressing the inaugural ceremony of '3rd Pakistan Edible Oil Conference' (PEOC), at a hotel, here.
Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturers Association (PVMA), All Pakistan Solvent Extractors' Association (APSEA), Pakistan Edible Oil Refiners Association (PEORA) and Pakistan Soap Manufacturers Association (PSMA) jointly organized the 3rd POEC. The Minister for States and Frontier Regions said that now Pakistan is a secure country for the domestic and foreign investors and they can invest without any risk. However, he stressed on need to highlight Pakistan's positive image inside and outside of Pakistan to bring more foreign investment to the country.
He said that it is evident from considerable participation of foreign delegates in PEOC that Pakistan's security situation is much batter than previous years and foreigners can visit without any threat. Chaudhry Jafar Iqbal, Minister of State for Maritime Affairs, said that Pakistan government is fully committed to facilitate the business community for long-term economic growth. He said that presently Karachi Port, Port Qasim and Gwadar port are those three ports that are fully operational and providing state of the art services to the traders. He assured that the government would provide all necessary facilities at ports for the import of edible oil.
In his welcome address, Rasheed Jan Mohammad, chief executive PEOC 2018, said that since Pakistan is a very significant market with annual consumption of around 4 million tons of edible oil, this conference would be very successful for all stakeholder of the industry. In his presentation on 'Emerging Trends in The Edible Oil Sectors- A view from Pakistan,' he revealed that the import and consumption of edible oil in Pakistan is gradually increasing. He said that during 2017 it was revealed that per capita consumption went up to 18 kg primarily because of increase in population and improvement in the buying power of the middle class. He said that total edible oil consumption in the country surged to 4 million tons annually including 0.4 million tons of domestic production and some 3 million tons of imported edible oil. While, some 0.7 million tons of oil was extracted from imported seeds.
"The import of edible oil in 2017 was highest in the history and some 19 percent higher than 2016. This may attributed to the increase in demand but also overbought, which resulted in too much pressure on the local market," he said. Pakistan's major edible oil imports are from Malaysia and Indonesia, however despite some increase in Malaysia's share, Indonesia is still dominating in the Pakistan's oil trade. During last year, import of palm oil products from Malaysia was 0.57 million tons (with 20 percent share) and some 2.2 million tons from Indonesia (with 80 percent share).
Overall import of oilseeds was increased by some 36 percent in 2017 compared to 2016. In addition, imports of soybeans posted substantial increase of 100 percent during the last year. Presenting the international market scenario, Rasheed Jan Mohammad, said that Malaysian Palm production was 19.92 million tons in 2017 compared to 17.32 million tons in 2016 and expected to be around 20.5 million tons in 2018. Similarly, Indonesian Palm production was around 36 million in 2017 against 32.3 million tons in 2016 and it may be 38 million tons this year.
He said Indian import of edible oil during 2016-17 was 15.07 million tons up from 14.57 million tons in 2015-16 and expected to be around 15.80 million tons in 2017-18. Rasheed also thanked Pakistan Vanaspati Manufacturers Association (PVMA), All Pakistan Solvent Extractors' Association (APSEA), Pakistan Edible Oil Refiners Association (PEORA) and Pakistan Soap Manufacturers Association (PSMA) for giving their support in the organizing the conference. He hailed the role of Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) and Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) and GAPKI and BPDPKS of Indonesia for their kind support.
Khawaja Arif Qasim, chairman PEOC, said that edible oil sector is among five leading spinners of Pakistan and alone contributing some Rs 120 billion annually in national exchequer. This conference is indeed a showcase which represents the entire industry and is attended by entire local industry as well as leading overseas players. In this conference, leading and most renowned speakers, industry experts presented their papers and analyzed the market trends. All the leading brands of Pakistan also setup their stalls on the sideline of the conference to showcase their products.
During the conference, speakers said that since the import volume of edible oil and oilseeds are growing and have touched the unprecedented level of 3.00 million tons each in 2017, the timing and significance of this conference is very much pertinent. They said that since the import volume is going up, Pakistan needs to cater to the logistics requirement so as to avoid the storage and distribution problems. The conference also provided an opportunity to the local industry players to interact with their overseas associates and also with the Associations who represent the Malaysian and Indonesian suppliers for future projects.
An award ceremony was also held on Saturday night to appreciate the role of highest importers and exporters of edible oils and oilseeds. On the occasion, Tanveer Ahmed Sufi, chairman PSMA, Basheer Jan Mohammad, Mian Muhammad Hanif, chairman PEORA, Tariqullah Sufi chairman APSEA, Atif Rasheed, Mian Azhar, Najaf Mirza, acting chairman PQ, Dr James Fry chairman LMC international UK, Emily French, Managing Director ConsiliAgra United State, and others also spoke at the conference.