DHAKA, Aug 20 (Bernama) -- Palm oil import in Bangladesh registered asubstantial increase during the last fiscal year (July 2003 -- June 2004)while imports of soyabean oil declined.Dhaka started importing palm oil more than two decades ago and most ofthis edible oils came from Malaysia.According to official statistics available here, Bangladesh imported627,987 tonnes of palm oil in the last fiscal 2003-2004, which was about59 percent of the total imports of edible oil in the country that year.Imports of palm oil increased by about 43 percent compared to previousfiscal 2002-2003.Meanwhile, 365,400 tonnes of soyabean oil was imported during the lastfiscal year, which is about 34 percent of total edible oil imports inBangladesh.Imports of soyabean oil declined by 18 percent compared to that ofprevious fiscal 2002-2003.Bangladesh imported a total of 1,065,330 tonnes of edible oil infiscal year 2003-2004 registering an increase of nine percent.The volume of palm oil imports continued to increase every year and iscurrently dominating Bangladesh's edible oil market."Palm oil's quality and its competitive price compared to that ofsoyabean oil caused rapid increase in palm oil's import and consumption aswell in Bangladesh," said AKM Fakhrul Alam, Country Manager of MalaysianPalm Oil Promotion Council (MPOPC) for Bangladesh.He said that demand of palm oil in Bangladesh market indicates thatthe import and consumption of this edible oil would go up further duringthe current fiscal year 2004-2005.Palm oil is used in Bangladesh both as cooking oil and as aningredient in food processing industries. The use of the oil in both theareas has been increasing steadily.A few of the country's refineries are producing world standard superolein palm oil by adopting developed refining process in their plants."This high quality super olein is being considered as an alternativeto soyabean oil and has a good market in Bangladesh," Fakhrul said.He added that palm oil was always a preferred choice for the foodprocessing industries due to its compatibility as an ingredient in foodprocessing.With the expansion of the food processing industries in the country,palm oil's demand in this sector was also steadily increasing, he said. --BERNAMA