GOVT EYES 60PC SHARE OF PAKISTAN MARKET
Optimism follows Imran’s pledge to increase imports of commodity from Malaysia, says Kok
MALAYSIA hopes to grow its share of Pakistan’s palm oil market to 60 per cent this year from 22 per cent currently, said Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok.
This follows Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s pledge to import more palm oil from Malaysia, with both governments now ironing out the details.
“Pakistan is asking for crude palm oil (CPO) at a lower price and I am sure there is room for improvement. Discussions will be held soon to iron out the details,” said Kok yesterday.
She said Imran’s commitment to buy more Malaysian palm oil were good news for the local industry.
However, economists and sector analysts said Malaysia should not expect too much from Imran’s pledge as Pakistan lacked the financial resources and had weak internal demand.
Kok reiterated that there was room for growth in Pakistan’s edible oils market, seeing that its population of more than 200 million was growing at 2.74 per cent pace each year.
She said Malaysia and Pakistan would also discuss a number of issues on bilateral trade, including opening up more air routes between the two countries.
“When I went to Karachi recently, they requested for more flights from Pakistan to Malaysia, especially from Karachi. Upon checking with our embassy there, it showed that there was an increase in the number of tourists visiting Malaysia.
“With this, you can see positive potentials for bilateral trade between the two countries.”
However, she added that Malaysia also wished to maintain its good relationship with India and explore new markets for domestic palm oil exports.
Earlier, Kok announced that the Malaysia-China Silk Route Chamber had donated 3.75 million pieces of rubber gloves and 20,000 pieces of protective clothing for medical use to China.
The Malaysian Rubber Export Promotion Council and local rubber glove manufacturers had earlier sent 18 million medical gloves to healthcare workers in Wuhan, China.
The medical gloves will be sent to Hunan, Hubei, Hainan, Shandong, and Guangdong.