November 29, 2012

Due to cheaper imports of palm oil, Pakistan's imports of rapeseed are expected to fall 20% this year.

Pakistan is expected to import around 750,000 tonnes in 2012, they said.

Most rapeseed crushers still have large volumes of unsold rapeseed oil from their previous purchases because of consumers' preference for cheaper palm oil, one of the executives said.

Global palm oil prices are under pressure due to large inventories in major exporting countries, Indonesia and Malaysia.

In recent months, RBD Palmolein has traded in Pakistan around PKR4,000 (US$41.4) for 40-kilogramme packs compared with PKR5,500 (US$57) per 40 kilogrammes of rapeseed oil.

Pakistan's rising domestic production of sunflower seed and rapeseed is also weighing on the import of rapeseed, said an executive with a global commodity trading company.

He said that Pakistan's usual combined annual output of sunflower seed and rapeseed is between 600,000 tonnes and 700,000 tonnes but this year, production is estimated around 850,000 tonnes due to the expansion in acreage.

Traders said Pakistan's bumper crop of cotton, the source of cottonseed oil, has also damped demand for imported rapeseed. Pakistan traditionally buys rapeseed from Australia and Canada.