09/04/2012 (The News) - The country’s palm oil imports witnessed an increase of 28.36 percent during the first eight months of the current fiscal year against the same period last year, according to the official data on Friday.

The palm oil imports during July-February (2011/12) stood at $1.611 billion against $1.255 billion during July-February (2010/11), according to the data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

In terms of quantity, the palm oil imports increased by 7.74 percent, up from 1,331,744 tons last year to 1,434,826 tons during the current year.

The soyabean oil imports during the period under review declined by 7.66 percent, the data revealed. The soyabean imports stood at $45.291 million in July-February (2010/11) declined to $41.823 million during the current year.

In terms of quantity, the soyabean imports decreased by 28.21 percent, as imports went down to 32,219 tons during the current year against 44,879 tons last year.