KARACHI (July 23 2003) : Pakistan's palm oil market was sluggish in thepast week as importers said their positions for the month were alreadycovered and they wanted world prices to settle down before placing neworders.

Importers in Pakistan said weak palm oil futures in the Malaysian marketand rising production there in coming weeks had depressed world prices.

Traders said the market currently had up to 60,000 tonnes of unsold stockto meet local demand in the short term.

Another importer said was no clear direction for the market at present andit could take two to three weeks before the uncertainty would be over.

Dealers on Tuesday quoted palm oil on the local market at 1,710 rupees permaund (37.32 kg), down five rupees from the previous week.

Pakistan imports about 1.3 million tonnes of edible oil products annually,led by palm oil, mostly from Malaysia, to meet domestic demand of 1.9million tonnes.-Reuters