Pakistan eyes RI as new palm oil supplier
Pakistan eyes RI as new palm oil supplier
KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuter): Pakistan wants to diversify its
sources of palm oil and is looking to Indonesia as a potential
supplier, the head of the state-run Trading Corp of Pakistan
(TCP) said yesterday.
"We are concentrating on diversifying our source of supply of
palm oil," Nooruddin Ahmad told Reuters in an interview.
Malaysia is now the top supplier to Pakistan, which bought
984,000 tons of palm oil worth US$738 million in fiscal 1995/96
(July-June).
"We've given a special focus to Indonesia, which is emerging
as a major supplier of palm oil. As its plantations mature, it is
likely to become the number one producer," Ahmad said.
The TCP chairman said Pakistan wanted to buy more palm oil,
tea, rubber, petrochemicals, polyester yarn and machinery from
Indonesia, and could supply cotton and textiles in return.
"They (the Indonesians) need cotton, yarn, fabrics, and they
are also looking to Pakistan as a gateway for their consumer and
industrial goods to Central Asia as well as West Asia," he said.
"We can market our goods and consumer goods, and can use
(Indonesia) as a springboard for neighboring ASEAN (Association
of Southeast Asian Nations) countries," Ahmad added.
The TCP and the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(ICCI) have drawn up a plan to boost two-way trade to $1 billion
in the next two years. No figures were available for 1995/96, but
bilateral trade was worth $212 million in 1994/95.
Ahmad said the ICCI would hold a trade exhibition in Karachi
from September 12-16 and a seminar on September 13, and the TCP
would organize a trade exhibition in Jakarta on October 17-22.
He said the TCP, Pakistan's biggest trading house, planned to
double its business to $1 billion in 1996/97 from $500 million in
1995/96.
Apart from buying palm oil for the Ghee Corp of Pakistan, the
TCP is a major sugar importer this year, ordering 225,000 tons
for delivery by September 30.
"If need be we will import more sugar," Ahmad said. "We are
keeping an eye on the market situation."