Lahore,Pakistan,8/9/2001(Business Recorder) - Favourable weatherconditions is going to boost the production of local oilseed by 20 percent this year, said the Chairman, Pakistan Vanaspati ManufacturersAssociation (PVMA), Mian Muhammad Ibrahim. In a statement issued hereTuesday, he stated that this bright out look of Pakistan's winter oilseedcrop could sharply reduce the burden on our foreign exchange resources andimports are expected to come down by 25 percent.Spotlighting the recent weather pattern of the country, he averred thatlast year Pakistan suffered due to severe drought, but this year plenty ofmoisture in the soil and sufficient water in dams are the potent reasonsfor this optimism. Moreover, he said that 100,000 tonnes of soyabean oilin US aid has also started arriving in Pakistan.Continuing, he observed that all the positive indications requireconsistency in our edible oil policy, which is not available at present.He pointed out that if we want that the present trend of increase in localoilseed should continue, we must discourage the import of oilseed to turntables in favour of farmers of the local oilseed who need protectionagainst the cheap import of oilseed. The government must revise itspresent policy of low import tariff on foreign oilseed, he added.He hoped that there will be bumper crop of Canola and cottonseed oil thisyear and added that when the prices of Palm oil and Soyabean are going up,our farmers stand a good chance of getting economic prices from thecrushers. He appealed to the government that these favourable conditionsmust not be eroded for any consideration.