KARACHI, Jan 19: Pakistan will not cut import duty on Malaysian palm oils despite requests by the southeast Asian nation.

“No, there is no plan to cut import duty on Malaysian palm oil,” commerce minister Humayun Akhtar told Reuters.

“We are negotiating Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Malaysia, which is also the largest supplier of palm oil, but palm oil import tariff will not be a part of the FTA negotiations,” he added.“As of now, we are not ready to give preference to Malaysia in that FTA for palm oil.”

Pakistan is the world's fourth largest consumer of vegetable oil, 90 per cent of which is covered by imports, mostly of Malaysian RBD palm oil and olein. Pakistan’s domestic demand is 2.5 million tons. Industry officials estimated annual imports of 1.8 million tons of palm oil from Malaysia, a major portion of which will be refined palm olein.

“We are a major importer and a duty cut specific to Malaysia means we are guaranteeing them export order of around 2 million tons a year,” said the official, who asked not to be named.—Reuters