KARACHI (July 29 2004): Pakistan's palm oil imports have slowed down assoft world prices discouraged importers from placing fresh orders, dealerssaid on Wednesday. They said the importers would first wait to see wherethe palm oil prices in Malaysia are heading.

"The importers are cautiously waiting for the bearish spell in Malaysia tohit bottom before entering the market," said Zia Ahmed, a dealer in thesouthern port city of Karachi.

The Malaysian market has been dragged down largely due to weaker Chicagosoyaoil futures.

"Importers are now waiting for prices to settle at a stable level to placenew orders as the C&F prices to Karachi are also down at least by fivedollars," Ahmed said.

The palm olein prices in the local market fell by 10 rupees to 1,650rupees per maund (37.32 kg).

Traders said local palm oil supplies were satisfactory with stocksstanding around 100,000 tonnes and demand slower in the Pakistan summer.

Pakistan imports about 800,000 tonnes of oilseed and about 1.3 milliontonnes of edible oil products annually, led by palm oil and palm olein.The country's annual domestic demand is 1.9 million tonnes.