KARACHI: Malaysian Minister for Primary Industries Teresa Kok Suh Sim has said that Pakistan’s demand for palm oil has been increasing at a rate of 4.5 percent every year for the past seven years.
Speaking at the Edible Oil Conference the other day, she said the demand for the commodity was growing in Pakistan on the back of rising population, higher incomes and increased consumer spending.
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“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 percent of its total consumption needs,” she said. “Thus, Pakistan depends heavily on the import of the product to meet growing domestic demand.”
Highlighting the importance of Pakistan as an end-user of Malaysian palm oil, Sim dubbed the country one of the most regular and dependable buyers of the product.
She 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.
It is pertinent to mention here that 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.
