MMTC to import edible oil worth $30 m from Malaysia

New Delhi, March 27: The Minerals and Metals Trading Corporation (MMTC)has decided to import edible oil worth about $30 million from Malaysianext fiscal, in order to meet the additional demand in the domesticmarket."India will be importing around $ 25-30 million worth of the commodity in2001-02 through MMTC.The exact quantity of the edible oil import would hinge on the pricesituation, but it should be about 1 lakh tonne," official sources saidhere on Tuesday.MMTC imports edible oil from Malaysia against their dues towards a railwayproject being implemented by Indian Railways Construction (IRCON), sourcessaid.At present, crude palm oil (CPO) was being imported at an average price of$220 per tonne freight on board (FOB) and RBD palmolien at $250 per tonneFOB from Malaysia.Going by the past trends, the commodity would be delivered on afortnightly basis, in consignments of 3,000-6,000 tonne in ports on bothwestern and eastern coast, they said.Given the demand of the importers, MMTC had primarily been a refined oilimporter, and 88 per cent of the oil traded by the corporation belonged tothis segment."MMTC serves as a trade facilitator, and based on the orders received fromtraders it had contracted business worth 88,000 tonne of refined and12,500 tonne of raw oil in the current fiscal," sources said.MMTC'S most recent consignment of 3,000 tonne each was expected to reachKolkata and Ahmedabad in a few days time. Another contract for 2,000 tonnehad been signed and was to be shipped to Mangalore Port.(PTI)