December 4, 2003	Thursday	Shawwal 9, 1424

KARACHI, Dec 3: Pakistan’s palm oil rates slipped over the week on the back of high stocks and dealers said on Wednesday they would remain depressed due to a low demand after Eidul Fitr.

“The position of imported oils is on an extremely high side,” Akbar Puri, a dealer at Agro Commodities, told Reuters.

There are around 200,000 tons of stocks available at present, while a huge quantity is also on the high seas, he said.

Dealers said local traders had made forward deals securing their positions until February 2004 and at present no fresh buying orders are being made for the imports.

Mr Puri said that the domestic prices are even lower than the import rates because of high stock position and availability of the locally produced cottonseed oil.

Pakistan produced 400,000 tons of cottonseed during the current 2003-2004 (April-January) crop year. Dealers quoted palm oil in the local market at Rs1,815 per maund (37.32 kg), down Rs10 from the previous week.—Reuters