14/06/2008 (Sindh Today.net), Kuala Lumpur - Pakistans demand for Malaysian palm oil is expected to increase further this year due to its lower import duty compared to that from Indonesia.

Pakistans ambassador to Malaysia, Lt. General Tahir Mehmud Qazi (retd), said Malaysia has an advantage over Indonesia as import duty imposed on crude palm oil (CPO) is RS 8,100 for imports from Malaysia and RS 9,500 for those from Indonesia.

“Import duty on refined bleached and deodorised (RDB) palm olein from Indonesia is RS 9,050 compared to RS 8,145 from Malaysia,” he said in e-mail reply Saturday to questions by Malaysian news agency Bernama.

Qazi said another major contributing factor was due to export duty imposition of 15% on RBD palm olein by Indonesia as compared to export duty exemption on RBD palm olein by Malaysia.

He said Malaysia palm oil imports rose by 33% to 377,066 tonnes for January- April 2008 period from 283,770 tonnes in same period last year. “This uptrend in intake is expected to continue thereafter until Ramazan and Eid-ul-Fitr,” he added.

High commissions commercial counsellor, Majid Qureshi said palm oil exports to Pakistan by Malaysia is expected to increase by 33% this year despite rising prices in international market.

For 2007, Malaysian palm oil exports to Pakistan rose to about 1.1 million tonnes compared to 968,406 tonnes in 2006.

Under Pakistan-Malaysia Closer Economic Partnership Agreement signed in November last year, Pakistan reduced tariff of seven palm products by 10% margin of preference (MoP) from beginning this year.

He said tariff will further be reduced by 5% MoP starting January 1, 2010, making Malaysia as first choice for Pakistan to import palm oil and its products compared to its closest competitors. PPI (Pakistan Press International), 2008