'Pakistan's demand for palm oil rising 4.5% each year'

Malaysian minister says growth due to rising population, increased spending

KARACHI: Demand for palm oil in Pakistan's has been increasing at a rate of 4.5% every year for the past seven years, said Malaysian Minister for Primary Industries Teresa Kok Suh Sim.

Speaking at the Fifth Pakistan Edible Oil Conference, she said that demand of the commodity was growing in Pakistan on back of rising population, higher incomes and increased consumer spending.

"Palm oil has the potential for even higher uptake in the Pakistani market because the country's local production of oils and fats covers only around 20% of its total consumption needs," she said. "Thus, Pakistan depends heavily on import of the product to meet growing domestic demand."

Highlighting the importance of Pakistan as an end user of Malaysian palm oil, Sim termed the country one of the most regular and dependable buyers of the product.

The minister pointed out that Pakistan was among the first export destinations where Malaysia had major investments in areas of bulking installations and refineries besides having liquid cargo jetty dedicated for handling of palm oil.

Malaysian companies such as FGV Holdings Berhad, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad and IOI Group have made significant investment in Pakistan via joint ventures with the Westbury Group since 1993.

Palm oil is widely used by the industry for manufacturing vanaspati (ghee). On the other hand, it is also used by the food industry in Pakistan for frying.

She was pleased to learn that Prime Minister Imran Khan would be visiting Malaysia soon.

The minister was joined at the event by Adviser to Prime Minister for Commerce, Abdul Razak Dawood.

The two leaders took the opportunity of the bilateral dialogue to explore various issues of common interest for both countries. Reiterating the excellent cordial bilateral relations, the two sides emphasised the need to further enhance the two-way trade.

Minister Teresa Kok raised the issue that medium density fibreboards (MDF) imported in Pakistan from Sri Lanka enjoyed lower duties whereas Malaysia's higher quality MDFs were subjected to higher import tariffs.

On the other hand, Dawood said Pakistan exported rice, fruits and other products which were required by Malaysia and encouraged the minister to consider establishing trading practices that could allow smoother passage of these products to Kuala Lumpur.