KARACHI (September 09 2006): To local firms have received government approval for setting up edible oil refineries in Karachi, which would cost about $10 million, sources said on Friday. They said that these two parties who would establish their plants in Karachi are Waheed Hafeez Ghee Industry and Hamza Edible Oil Refinery of Lahore (Sufi Group).

Both (Waheed Hafeez and Sufi Group) have acquired land near Port Qasim. Construction of the plants is likely to begin in December this year, which may take 18 months to complete. Thus, production is likely to commence by February 2008.

These units would have production capacity of around 500 tonnes per day. With the induction of these two edible oil plants, the number of big refineries in the country would reach 10, while the total edible oil production would rise to 7,000 tonnes per day, which currently is 5,000 tonnes.

About the technology that would be used in these edible oil refineries, Sources said that these plants would have the latest, world-class technology. However, both parties were reluctant to divulge from where they would procure the machinery. "The technology which they (units) would use, is 'Continuous Refinery' and might be bought from the European market, which runs the plant smoothly without getting heated," sources added. These refineries would use crude palm oil, to be imported from Malaysia and Indonesia.

Waheed Hafeez Ghee Industry is basically an Islamabad-based party. The country's demand for edible oil is 1.5 million tonnes per month, which goes up to 3 million tons during Ramazan. Of this 3 million tonnes, around 0.6 million tonnes is supplied by some 128 small and big edible oil refineries across the country.