ISLAMABAD, June 17: Pakistan’s palm oil market was bullish over the past week amid high world prices and buoyant local demand and dealers on Tuesday predicted more buying as traders moved to cover short positions.

They said locally held stocks continued to shrink because of less imports in May, as the importers waited the 2003/04 budget in anticipation of tariff readjustment on edible oil imports.

They added that the importers, who held back buying in anticipation of a cut in palm oil import duty in the budget, were now taking positions to increase their stocks.

Another dealer said importers have booked orders for 65,000 to 70,000 tons of palm olein during June 1-15, while stocks of more than 60,000 tons of palm oil and olein were available in the market.

“The buyers are in an aggressive mood and we anticipate at least 80,000 tons to 100,000 tons imports in next two weeks,” he added.

Dealers on Tuesday quoted palm oil on the local market at Rs1,765 per maund (37.32 kg).

Pakistan annually imports about 1.3 million tons of edible oil products, led by palm oil, mostly from Malaysia, to meet a domestic demand of 1.9 million tons.—Reuters