5 more palm oil carrying ships to arrive by July 10
A palm oil plantation is pictured next to a burnt forest near Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan province, Indonesia, September 29, 2019. REUTERS
Indonesian Ambassador Adam Mulawarman Tugio has said that palm oil supply from Indonesia to Pakistan will be completed by July 10 under the current phase.
“So far five ships have arrived in the port city of Karachi and another five will arrive by July 10,” Tugio said while talking to APP on Friday.
The ambassador recalled that in the previous month Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Indonesian President Joko Widodo had discussed the issue of increasing the supply of palm oil to Pakistan after Jakarta lifted the ban on exports.
The Indonesian government decided to use 10 ships for oil supply over the next three weeks to meet Pakistan’s needs.
“Pakistan is a brotherly Islamic country with which Indonesia has strong economic, trade and diplomatic relations,” the envoy stressed, adding that Jakarta would always continue its cooperation to meet the need for palm oil.
Replying to a question, he said that the Indonesian government had temporarily banned global palm oil exports in May 2022 to regulate the domestic market and provide subsidised oil to its people.
The ambassador pointed out that the global consumption of palm oil was currently 70 million tonnes, of which 33 million tonnes were produced in Indonesia.
Similarly, Indonesia is the world’s largest exporter of palm oil, which also impacts the Indonesian market and shipments have to be adjusted according to prices.
Replying to another question, the envoy said that Indonesia had lifted the global ban on palm oil exports and now supplies would also improve in Pakistan.
“Indonesia is the largest supplier of palm oil to Pakistan. Its government is paying special attention to increasing the supplies,” Tugio said.
He acknowledged that due to the ban on exports of palm oil, people and traders of Pakistan had faced difficulties. For that matter, the Indonesian embassy in Islamabad would fully cooperate with the local market, he added.
According to data issued by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the palm oil imports surged 46.7% in the first three quarters of fiscal year 2021-22 as compared to the corresponding period of previous year.
Palm oil imports from July-March FY22 were valued at $2.73 billion against imports worth $1.86 billion in July-March FY21.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 2nd, 2022.
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