KARACHI (April 16 2003) : Pakistan's palm oil market remained mixed overthe past week and importers hesitated to place fresh orders, preferring towait for world prices to settle down, dealers said on Tuesday.

"There is some buying interest but importers are hesitant to place freshorders due to the constant slide in world prices," said Pervez Aminuddin,a palm oil importer in the southern port city of Karachi.

"The importers want international prices to settle to a firm level."

Another dealer said traders were making routine imports of edible oils butthe market lacked "aggressive buying interest".

"The market is likely to follow a mixed trend during the next week asimporters anticipate lower international prices in the weeks ahead," headded.

The dealers said reports of falls in Malaysia's palm oil exports had alsosidelined big players.

Cargo surveyor Societe Generale de Surveillance Malaysia said on Tuesdaythat palm oil exports for April 1-15 stood at 480,769 tonnes, down from514,637 tonnes for March 1-15.

The estimates included 48,687 tonnes of RBD palm oil, 207,064 tonnes ofRBD palm olein, 57,670 tonnes of RBD palm stearin and 45,000 tonnes ofcrude palm oil, it said in a statement.

Pakistani traders said local dealers had enough stocks to meet demand forthe rest of April and buying activity would pick up only when theinternational market stabilised.

"Around 80,000-85,000 tonnes of stocks are available in the market, whichis enough for April (domestic) demand," one trader said.

Pakistani dealers on Tuesday quoted palm oil on the local market at 1,700rupees per maund (37.32 kg).

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