KARACHI, July 6: The country’s edible oil imports remained high over the past week amid soft international prices, and dealers said on Wednesday that rising domestic stocks could push the local prices lower in the coming weeks.

“In June Pakistan has bought extremely well...imports for June are going to be very high, around 200,000 tons,” said Akbar Puri, a Karachi-based dealer.

“The buying has been coming in as dealers feel international prices are not at a very high level,” he said.

Dealers said import demand was likely to persist in July, though it might not be as high as June.

Another dealer said that the domestic demand remained soft over recent weeks because of hot weather.

“However, activity has been steady on the futures counters,” he said.

Puri said domestic prices could come under slight downward pressure in the coming weeks as dealers expected a sharp rise in stocks after June shipments hit the shore.

Dealers quoted palm olein at Rs1,625 per maund, little changed from the previous week.—Reuters