Edible oil prices soar

KARACHI: Pakistan’s edible oil prices were mostly higher in the week to Monday following firmer prices in the key Malaysian market, dealers said.

Edible oil imports to Pakistan in May so far are higher as local importers started to buy recently when prices started rising, a dealer said. In Pakistan, participants buy more when prices start to rise for fear that prices would rise even further. Local participants are also trying to beef stocks ahead of the budget, the dealer said. The national budget will be announced June 7.

Kamran Ahmed, a dealer at Saulat Enterprises, said prices were likely to stabilize at current levels and imports are likely to slow down after recent purchases. “Stocks have risen to around 85,000 metric tonnes due to heavy purchases in May,” he said.

Pakistan imported 74,200 tonnes of edible oil products from Malaysia from May 1-25, up from 53,993 tons in the same period in April. Meanwhile, the edible oil industry has demanded the government to cut import duty on edible oil products by 40 percent in the budget. Currently, Pakistan imposes custom and regulatory duties ranging between 35 percent and 40 percent on different vegetable oil products.—Dow Jones Newswires

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