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Summary
Pakistan, the worlds third-biggest importer of palm oil, will increase purchases of the vegetable oil and rapeseed from overseas this year as demand climbs during the holy month of Ramadan, a refiners group said. Imports of palm oil may climb to as much as 1.85 million metric tons from 1.75 million tons in 2009, Rasheed Janmohammad, vice chairman of the Pakistan Edible Oil Refiners Association, said in a phone interview from Karachi. Incoming shipments of rapeseed may jump 20 percent to 1.2 million tons, he said. Palm oil has rallied 14 percent from a seven-month low on July 7 on optimism consumption will increase in Asian nations, which mark festivals in the September quarter, and on concern that weather may disrupt output in Indonesia and Malaysia, the biggest producers. Imports may beat forecasts if Pakistans cotton crop is damaged by the recent floods, said Janmohammad. Demand is quite good in view of Ramadan and most mills are short of stocks, he said yesterday. August will see strong imports and buying will only slow in the third quarter. Pakistans deadliest floods in eight decades may lower the countrys farm production by more than the 15 percent estimated by the nations agriculture chamber of commerce, Luigi Damiani, senior emergency and rehabilitation coordinator at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said on Aug. 3. October-delivery futures added 1.1 percent to 2,590 ringgit ($817) a ton on the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange yesterday, the highest close since April 9. India last year overtook China as the biggest buyer of the tropical commodity. Pakistan imported 231,000 tons of refined palm olein in July, compared with typical monthly purchases of 125,000 tons, Janmohammad said. Imports in August may be 175,000 tons, he said.
